Jonathan Lee DavisNew Constellation

Teacher & Professor Resources

These notes are for educators in public schools, private schools, and colleges. They are templates drawn from the back-cover descriptions of the three novels. They are a place to start a conversation, not a finished lesson plan.

The books are not released yet. Release dates are TBA, so these notes stay with what the covers say. Read each overview and decide whether it fits your students. The descriptions include families leaving home, civil conflict, and war.

Age or grade level

Recommended age or grade level: TBA.

Book overviews

New Constellation

Book one is marked fiction on the back cover. The description starts with the first American flag and its thirteen stars, and with the name given to the young country: a new constellation. It says the American Dream has worn thin. Letters then arrive. Native American tribes invite back any U.S. citizen with one-eighth Native blood. They offer a home, healthcare, school, honest work, and Sundays kept for church, if the person will live their way. Thirteen tribes rise. The Supreme Court returns unoccupied government land. People choose to leave.

The cover asks whether this is a community or an army, a refuge or too good to be true, and whether a person who joins can leave. The full wording is on the New Constellation page.

Circle of Stars

Book two describes a new flag of thirteen stars over a new border. It recalls the first American flag, which set its stars in a circle so that no one stood above another. It describes America at war with itself, cities burning, states leaving the Union, and the military in disorder. It names Russia laying claim to Alaska, China taking Taiwan, and Poland under fire. The young United Tribal Nation, sworn never to attack unless attacked, has to decide who it can take in, and what it will cost to keep its word.

The full wording is on the Circle of Stars page.

The Last Constellation

Book three returns to thirteen white stars on a blue field. It says the first pattern broke, and that the people who were here before those stars were sewn have drawn another and must hold it while the world burns at the border. Russia and China have landed on American soil. The military is broken and scattered. The United Tribal Force must stand with what remains of it. The cover names thirteen tribes, one border, a women's year of service the Nation has never known, medicine running short, and gates filling. A country that swore never to attack unless attacked has to decide how much of itself it will give to keep the rest of the continent from falling.

The full wording is on the The Last Constellation page.

Themes

Use these as labels for discussion. Keep every claim inside the cover wording, or mark it as a question the cover does not answer.

Stars and constellations

All three descriptions use stars. Book one names a new constellation of thirteen stars. Book two sets those stars in a circle so that no one stood above another, then puts thirteen stars on a new flag. Book three says the first pattern broke and another has been drawn. A class can track that image from book to book.

Friendship and growing up

These are template themes. The covers name families, school, work, church, a community that asks people to live its way, and a year of service. They do not describe a particular friendship or a particular age. Educators can ask where friendship and growing up might matter in those invitations, and students should say when they have left the words on the cover.

Promises and belonging

Book one asks whether joining is a refuge and whether a person can leave. Books two and three repeat a promise never to attack unless attacked, and a decision about who can be taken in and what that promise costs. Those are questions about belonging, drawn from the descriptions.

Discussion-question templates

Each question is a template. Public-school, private-school, and college groups can shorten it or give it more time. Stay with the description named in the question.

New Constellation

  1. The description says the young country was called a new constellation. What picture does that name give?
  2. What does the description say the letters offer, and what do they ask in return?
  3. The cover asks, “Is it a community, or an army?” Which details in the description belong with each side of that question?
  4. The cover asks whether a person who joins can ever leave. What does the description put at stake in that question?
  5. Growing up, as a template: the description names school and families. What can a class ask about growing up without adding events the cover does not state?
  6. Friendship, as a template: where might friendship matter in an invitation into a community? Which words on the cover support that talk, and where does the cover stay silent?

Circle of Stars

  1. Why does the description say the thirteen stars were set in a circle?
  2. What does the description say is happening to the older country while a new flag flies over a new border?
  3. The United Tribal Nation is “sworn never to attack unless attacked.” What decision does the description say that promise creates?
  4. Stars, as a template: compare “a circle, so that no one stood above another” with book one’s “new constellation.” What is the same, and what does book two say has changed?
  5. Friendship and growing up, as a template: the nation must decide who it can take in. Ask how friendship or growing up could be part of being taken in, and mark that question as the class’s own.

The Last Constellation

  1. The description says the first pattern of stars broke and another has been drawn. Who does it say drew the new pattern?
  2. Which pressures does the last paragraph name?
  3. The country swore never to attack unless attacked. What decision does the description say it now has to make?
  4. Stars, as a template: how do the three descriptions use thirteen stars? Use their words, not a summary that adds a battle or a person.
  5. Growing up, as a template: a year of service is named, with no ages and no names. What can a class ask about that year, and where should the question stop?

Classroom-activity ideas

These are short activities for a public-school class, a private-school class, or a college seminar. The college version can ask for a longer written response. The school versions can stay inside one period.

  1. A circle of stars. Draw thirteen stars in a circle. Copy the book-two phrase “so that no one stood above another,” and write what it means in your own words.
  2. The invitation. From book one only, make two columns: what is offered, and what is asked. Then write three questions a person might ask before answering the letter.
  3. Two flags. List what the descriptions say about the older flag and what they say about the new flag of thirteen stars.
  4. One cover question. Choose one of the three questions at the end of the book-one description. Outline a discussion that uses only that description.
  5. Pressures in book three. List the pressures in the last paragraph of book three. Talk about which ones a community would have to face first, using those words.
  6. Friendship map, a template. Highlight words about people living together: families, tribes, and a nation deciding who it can take in. Say whether those words are enough to talk about friendship. This activity does not claim that a particular friendship is in the book.

Downloadable guides

Printable guides are not posted yet. Each file below is marked coming soon.