Harbor Me explores friendship, identity, and justice through each of the characters in the ARTT group. How does the author use the experiences of the characters to explore issues in American society? How do the characters learn to view differences through the perspectives of others? How do the characters’ relationships evolve in the story?

Teaching Suggestion: Because the novel explores multiple societal issues through the experiences of several characters, students may benefit from exploring characters using a graphic organizer to analyze their experiences, traits, and changes. Consider asking students to divide their paper into five sections or columns to analyze: Haley, Holly, Amari, Esteban, Ashton, and Tiago. Small groups could work together with each individual focusing on certain characters, and then sharing and discussing; students might then respond independently to the prompt.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who might benefit from strategies with analysis might narrow their focus to one character, such as Holly. A supplied graphic organizer might offer space to note facts and details from the text on the relationship Holly has with other characters.