Introductory activities
COVID-19: a literary response
Students should write their own compositions about their experience(s) of the COVID-19 pandemic. This could be from memory (free form) or, if needed, an interview with a family member. Students should reflect on these memories and what they communicate about the virus, how it spread, the associated impacts, and so on.
Have students reflect on how their parental relationships impacted them during the pandemic. They might reflect on how adult fears/anxieties/concerns about COVID were treated and shared with them as young people. How do they feel they navigated this time? Also consider how experiences of living in a city, as opposed to a regional or rural location, may have differed.
Brainstorm as many COVID-related texts as students can think of (i.e. texts set during or themed around the pandemic). They may realise that there are few well-known examples. Ask students if there are fewer or more texts than they expected and why. You could partner with library staff here to create a display of COVID response literature.
Risk and rebellion
Discuss the nature of adolescent rebellion and how the teen years are a time of transition from total parental control to growing independence. You could refer to Brontide* by Sue McPherson, which has a central theme of risk-taking and highlights the lengths to which young adolescent men will go to push boundaries in this season of life.
* Reading Australia title
In small groups, students should discuss and/or write about their family rules and expectations and the risks they take in their lives. This foreshadows a central theme in the novel, but also gives students an opportunity to share and contextualise their own experiences and reflections.
Students can then participate in a vote with your feet activity based on the following prompts:
- I like to take risks
- I will always do what my parents ask
- One of my parents is more relaxed than the other
- I have lied about where I was before
- I have snuck out of home before
- I would follow someone on Instagram without knowing them
- I would meet up with someone I met online
Debating the arts
Organise a class debate about ‘the value and benefit of the arts’, particularly music and visual arts. This will encourage students to consider the many benefits of the arts for individuals and society at large (e.g. social cohesion, economic growth, mental health), as well as some of the challenges (e.g. lack of specialist teachers in schools, competition for funding, highly subjective nature). This could be extended into a broader debate amongst staff; consider inviting music, drama, or visual arts teachers to weigh in, as well as science and mathematics teachers.
Considering street art
Explore how language and word choices have connotations and meaning, even when they don’t have context. Share some examples, such as the words ‘romance’, ‘humour’, or ‘identity’.
Use a Venn diagram to help students consider the connotations and ideas associated with the terms ‘graffiti’ and ‘street art’.
Have students research the history of street art worldwide and in Australia. How has communicating messages in public spaces been a significant aspect of the human experience? How has this changed over time? Students can research and make notes on the legalities and considerations of street art. Read about the vandalism of Melbourne’s Hosier Lane in 2020 and consider how art is associated with political statements, protests, and activism.
Then read this 2024 ABC News article and discuss the points of view and wider considerations presented. Students could share their own experiences with street art and perhaps view some local examples, if accessible. This may include silo art or NBN nodes as a form of cultural inclusion and identity.
Banksy
Have students watch this short explainer on Banksy. How does this artist create impact? Have students reflect, through journalling and/or discussion, on what they can learn about the way people appreciate and experience art. They can extend this work through further research and reflection.
Personal response on reading the text
The verse novel
Discuss the differences between verse and prose, identifying examples of each. Invite students to explore NCACL’s Australian Verse Novels Resource and identify potential wide reading texts of interest. Discuss the purpose/form of the verse novel and consider how verse meets a particular need in communicating.
Karen Comer’s writing in Grace Notes is highly poetic. If students have begun to read the novel, have them work in pairs to choose some of their favourite extracts and share them with the whole class. Discuss why it is important for a book about the arts to be written in this style. You might examine Grace’s first performance at Jay’s bar (pp. 75–81) or Crux’s first painting in Hosier Lane (pp. 70–75) as a starting point.
The role of grandparents
One of the most important characters in Grace Notes is Ettie, Grace’s grandmother. Reflect on the special role and relationship of grandparents. Students might like to share artefacts and memories of their own grandparents and discuss the role these family members play in their grandchildren’s lives.
Parental permission
Have students write about a time when they really needed parental permission for something important to them, and it was denied. What was the experience and how did it feel? Share and discuss in pairs or smaller groups.
Making connections
Once they have started reading Grace Notes, students can have some quick discussions based on the text. Have them form inside/outside circles and stand facing a partner in the opposite circle. Allow one minute to discuss a prompt or question before rotating the outside circle. Suggested prompts are listed below, but you may wish to adapt these or add others to suit your class.
- Do you identify more with Grace, Crux, or another character?
- What is your experience (if any) of Melbourne?
- How well do you relate to your family?
- What is your favourite music/song/musician and how does it make you feel?
- What was your experience of the COVID-19 lockdowns?
- How do grandparents keep families connected?
- How do you manage extra-curricular activities?
- How does your family cope with stress?
- Share something about your neighbours.
- What jobs are you employed to do? Is there a job you think you would enjoy?
Outline of key elements of the text
Plot: the rhythm of two voices
Grace Notes is set in Melbourne during the strict 2020 lockdowns. It follows Grace Dalfinch, an exceptionally talented violinist, and James Crux, an aspiring street artist. Both teens long to make their artistic visions a reality, but are restricted or outright forbidden from doing so by their parents.
Students should consider the fragmentary structure of the text. This is an intentional decision by Comer to mirror the uncertainty and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The timeline of Grace Notes spans several months, capturing the developing relationship between Grace and Crux. Note that although the narrative is told in two voices, Grace and Crux share many similar perspectives and experiences (e.g. a desire to be free, struggles with parents, a passion for the arts and artistic expression). The plot of the verse novel is reminiscent of a musical composition, with themes repeating, voices overlapping, and moments of action rising and falling.
Characters as voices of influence
While Grace and Crux drive the story, the adults in their lives also provide influence and direction for their actions and reactions.
Discuss the impact of Ettie, a former musician who gives Grace her artistic heritage along with much-needed encouragement. It is the conversations between Grace and Ettie that highlight the emotional and cultural importance of the arts. Ettie is the one who guides Grace’s self-expression in a world and family unit that can feel constrained at times.
In small groups, students should discuss the nature of intergenerational influence and the kindred spirit between Ettie and Grace. This will stand in contrast to Grace’s relationship with her mother, who values security and discipline over all else.
The parental figures in Grace Notes are diverse and relatable, with their own vulnerabilities and anxieties that are intensified during the pandemic. Grace’s parents, Matt Dalfinch and Amanda Tenniel, are high-powered professionals who hold their daughters (Sam, Liv, and Grace) to exacting standards and continuously plan for success. Crux’s parents, Nathan (‘Cruxy’) and Ali, are frontline workers who want their children (Molly and Crux) to make good decisions and stay out of trouble. The generational contrasts – especially the conflicts between Grace/Amanda and Crux/Nathan – capture the novel’s central tensions: how do you balance creativity with survival? How do you balance freedom with responsibility? Have students write these dilemmas in their notebooks and find quotes and examples from the novel that speak to each one. Students can then share their work with the class.
Themes
Creativity as survival
Have students identify how Grace Notes presents the arts not as optional, but as vital. Unpack it as a metaphor for a lifeline during times of isolation – primarily the pandemic, but also other contexts.
Have students visually represent the parallel creative expressions of Grace’s violin (refined, disciplined) and Crux’s street art (raw, rebellious). Both are deeply human ways of communicating and expressing. As part of this activity, encourage students to reflect on the fact that art and music do not require words; they fill gaps in silences and bridge distances, speaking directly to the emotions.
Students could extend this by visiting a local art gallery or conservatorium/concert hall to consider this impact further.
Family relationships
Discuss the different ways Grace and Crux relate to their families. Among the Dalfinches there is Ettie, who encourages Grace to use her gifts to the fullest; Amanda, who considers violin a distraction from real career prospects; and Matt, who falls somewhere between the two. Compare this to Crux’s family. Nathan is a broadly supportive parent, but that support is highly conditional, and he enforces strict boundaries on Crux’s activities. The COVID-19 context amplifies these intergenerational tensions.
Have students create family tableaus in small groups, focusing on the unique dynamics of the Dalfinch and Crux families and discussing what conflicts or emotions are revealed.
Resilience and connection
Students should consider how the harsh Melbourne lockdowns serve as a point of contrast to the beauty of humanity and human connection in Grace Notes. Comer maps the road to recovery through Grace and Crux’s blossoming relationship. The dual-voice structure gives readers a window into various struggles, not only for the protagonists but also their friends and families. As readers, we witness the ability of humans to adapt, grow, and connect – even when they are forced apart. Coming back to the novel’s title, Grace Notes suggests that resilience is not about being strong all the time but about finding grace and light in small, everyday acts.
Synthesising task
Family philosophies
Grace and Crux are heavily influenced by their family relationships, which involve love, expectation, and tension in equal measure. Each character wants to be heard and there is a struggle between freedom and responsibility, disciplines and individuality, expression and compliance.
This activity invites students to consider their place within their own families and communities. Explain that they are going to come up with a personal family philosophy. This may include things like:
- The student’s role in and contributions to their family
- How the student would like to be treated and understood
- What the student needs to feel supported, respected, and free to be themselves
- How students listen to and value their own and others’ voices and perspectives
They can use a table like the one below to plan their family philosophy:
| The ‘rules’ or ‘expectations’ in my family are … |
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| I feel the most heard when … |
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| I feel unseen when … |
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| Things that matter the most to me about my family relationships are … |
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| I can balance independence with connection by … |
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| My grace note (a small act of kindness) to my family is … |
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The family philosophy could be presented as a formal statement or letter to the student’s family, a slide deck, a poster, or a poem/short prose piece. You could invite students to share their philosophies (anonymously or with attribution) as part of a class reading or display. Be mindful of students who may not feel comfortable being on display, and allow them to opt out if that is their preference.
The writer’s craft
Structure
Students may identify that there are no traditional chapters in Grace Notes; instead, the text is divided into short sections that shift fluidly between events, moods, and perspectives, mirroring the stop-start rhythm of lockdown life. Students can identify and list the various forms of fragmentation, including verse, message threads, comments sections, and even word clouds. This fragmentary structure is an invitation to the reader to piece together the story. In doing so, students can reflect on how memory, isolation, and creativity do not unfold neatly.
Discuss with students the impact of telling a story with alternating narrators. Both Grace and Crux reveal their inner worlds and creative voices in highly personal and intimate ways. Draw students’ attention to pp.154–157, when Grace and Crux first make contact (students could take on the voices of Grace and Crux in this exchange). Highlight how these pages serves as the physical and symbolic centre of the novel. The first half of the book presents Grace and Crux living separate lives, but from this point on their worlds – music and street art – become intertwined in a structurally significant way. Placing these messages at the midpoint signals their significance. Discuss with students the choice to invert the background, and how the use of colour (visually and symbolically) highlights this key moment of convergence between two creative voices.
It would be interesting for students to track the explicit and implicit musical allusions across the novel (e.g. the corona chorus, song references, use of motifs, the title itself). Challenge them to compare the rising and falling action to the rhythm and pacing of a piece of music.
Approach to characterisation
Comer builds character primarily through voice and metaphor rather than lengthy description. Together read pp. 37–38, where Crux describes his family through metaphorical language (as opposed to facts or appearances). Discuss how these characters feel authentic and relatable, and how Comer helps readers to connect with them through feelings and images rather than surface details.
The emotional shorthand of presenting characters through imagery allows authors to reveal entire relationships quickly and powerfully. Have students try this with people in their own lives, using pp. 37–38 as a model. They can write a series of short metaphorical passages about a family member, friend, or mentor, starting with a single sentence (e.g. ‘Dad is a wind breather’) and adding more imagery and figurative language to paint a fuller picture. They can do this for more than one person, if time allows.
Setting
Discuss why the setting of Melbourne is so significant in the COVID-19 context. This was the epicentre of Australia’s COVID restrictions (extended lockdowns, deserted streets, etc.). Students can discuss their own knowledge/experiences of Melbourne as a cultural hub, and how the verse novel explores the tensions between creativity and confinement. Present images of Melbourne that highlight its rich culture (laneways, food and entertainment, etc.) and contrast these to the stillness of lockdown. Discuss how this setting may mirror Grace and Crux as characters: artists trying to find colour and rhythm in a still, grey world.
Have students identify how the pandemic affected different characters throughout Grace Notes. Some examples have been provided to help them get started.
| The Dalfinch family | Separation due to international travel and quarantine
Overcrowded home due to remote work and school |
| The Crux family | Stress and exhaustion from frontline work
Missed milestones (Molly’s birthday) during lockdown |
| Ettie | Isolation and loneliness due to COVID-19 restrictions |
| Sam Welton (‘Welty’) | |
| Finn Mellor |
Language and style
It is Comer’s writing that makes Grace Notes such an engaging novel. Her language choices present Grace and Crux as observant, creative teenagers who see the world through their art. Students should look for examples when the narrators describe their world with reference to sound and/or colour, turning the everyday into a poetic experience (much like grace notes). Consider, for example, how references to artists like Andy Warhol (p. 46) and Marc Chagall (p. 159) connect with Crux’s identity as an artist.
Colouring the world
Read the final stanza of the first ‘Crux’ section, from the bottom of p. 6 to the top of p. 7. Discuss what the sky symbolises; how this image reveals Crux’s worldview; and how colour is introduced as a language of emotion. Cross-reference this with Crux’s final stanza on p. 93, which recalls his connection to the sky: a motif that represents freedom and possibility.
Students should write a short verse that describes their own environment through colours and/or visual metaphors. They should begin with and expand on the sentence starter:
The world looks like …
The sound of friendship
Have students share their ideas about the value and richness of friendships, first in small groups and then as a whole class.
Grace reflects on her friendship with Abby on p. 39. Have students reflect on why she uses rhythm as a metaphor for this friendship. They can choose a relationship in their own lives and describe it using a music or sound metaphor. This activity could be cross-referenced with p. 63, where Grace describes finding ‘a song for every situation’. What songs would students choose to represent different relationships in their lives?
Parental relationships
Both Grace and Crux have strong relationships with their fathers that reflect creativity and care. Grace and Matt play violin together (p. 49), while Nathan helps Crux film videos for his YouTube channel (pp. 50–52). Have students locate other examples of positive parental relationships in Grace Notes (for example, p. 69).
By contrast, consider how language is used to position Amanda, with all her rules and expectations. An early exchange on p. 44 presents Amanda as stifling Grace’s creative opportunities. By p. 188, however, we understand that she is motivated by more than just a desire for control. Students could debate this characterisation, with some students defending Amanda’s position and others Grace’s.
Have students evaluate the extent to which Comer represents authentic parent-child relationships and the struggles within them.
Rebellion and self-expression
Even before the first lockdown is initiated, Grace and Crux are established as (modest) rule breakers. The COVID-19 context is the perfect setting for these characters who are pushing the limits of artistic expression and teenage independence.
Together read pp. 70–81, in which Crux does his first painting as ‘LeXX’ and Grace sneaks out to play at Jay’s bar. These scenes come shortly after a reference to the maxim ‘it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission’ (p.66) – a maxim that Crux repeats on p. 71. Both Grace and Crux know that they are defying their parents’ wishes. and experience a moment of hesitation, but ultimately decide that their dreams are too important to ignore. This affirms the importance of self-expression, even in the face of disapproval.
Students can reflect on the tensions between these ideas, especially given the COVID context and the age of the protagonists. As an extension to this discussion, point out that both Grace and Crux are paid for their art (on pp. 80 and 144). Does this make their rebellion more legitimate? Or is it an incentive to keep the truth hidden?
Text and meaning
The weight of lockdown
Have students investigate how the pandemic unfolds in Grace Notes. Read these moments as a class and discuss how Comer blends personal and public experiences of lockdown, such as the Prime Minister’s announcement about ANZAC Day and the impact of restrictions on Grace’s visits to Ettie (pp. 99–101). Students can consider how Ettie’s physical and emotional isolation may mirror Grace and Crux’s experiences.
Domestic violence
NOTE: There may be students in your class who have been (or are currently being) impacted by domestic and family violence. Consult with a relevant staff member, such as a school psychologist or student services coordinator, to ensure that you are effectively supporting students to work through this content. Reading Australia’s teaching resource for Dragon Skin* by Karen Foxlee contains additional advice (see Literature > Outline of Key Elements of the Plot > Themes > Content Warning).
* Reading Australia title
As a class read pp. 112–114, in which Crux meets his neighbour Sasha. Contrast this scene with pp. 122–123, the first of several incidents involving Sasha’s husband Alec. Students can reflect in small groups on why Comer chooses not to spell out exactly what is happening, making the implications more powerful than an explicit statement. Note, however, that as Alec’s violent behaviour escalates, Comer’s descriptions become increasingly direct (see pp.184–185, 265–266, 288–290, 295–300).
Grace notes
Identify with students the reference to the novel’s title on p. 117. How does this light gentleness serve as a point of contrast to the harsh COVID-19 restrictions, as well as Grace’s personal struggles with parental pressure and expectations? Students could track other references to grace notes throughout the novel, such as on p. 169.
Encourage students to reflect on whether they are adding ‘grace notes’ to their own lives. Consider this 2025 Sydney Morning Herald piece, in which Kirk Pengilly (guitarist and saxophonist for the band INXS) advises students to pursue things that they truly enjoy. By way of extension, students could investigate the connotations of Grace’s name (pp. 152–153 will be useful here) and whether this is fitting or, at times, ironic.
Synthesising task
By the conclusion of Grace Notes, students should see how the verse novel’s structure and meaning are intertwined. Comer does not simply tell a story – she composes one. The novel itself is a grace note that adds emotional depth, rhythm, and beauty to the experiences of people enduring a hard season of life.
Students are to write an extended response that analyses Comer’s use of language, style, theme, and setting, highlighting the significance of her work in presenting an emotionally and culturally rich story for the reader.
Ways of reading the text
Creative showcase: celebrating our own grace notes
Invite students to participate in a creative showcase celebrating the power of the arts to connect people and express shared humanity. Students can create and share their own artistic responses inspired by Grace Notes. If they need help getting started, they can explore the 2024 and 2025 creative response galleries from the CBCA Shadow Judging program, particularly the responses to Grace Notes.
Make sure you review the definition of a grace note – both in the novel and more broadly – to ensure a clear application of the term. Students could respond by creating poems, monologues, dramatic scripts, musical pieces, visual compositions, or any other form of their choosing. The class can then host a relaxed ‘Grace Notes jam session’ to perform or display their work and celebrate the diverse forms of creativity among their peers. You could open this event to other classes, parents, and/or the wider school community to enjoy, with space for participants to create their own grace notes.
Living memory and shared experience
Set up a safe space and acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic is still in living memory. Year 8 students would have been quite young at this time, and may have been confused or frightened by what was happening around them. Now that they are teenagers, they can explore those memories with greater understanding and clarity. Be mindful, however, that some students may be anxious about revisiting these events. It is essential that you understand your class context so you can approach the following activities sensitively and modify where appropriate.
Have students reflect on how their proximity to the pandemic makes Grace Notes a uniquely relevant text, showing how literature can capture and help process collective experiences. By reading and studying the novel’s plot, themes, and characters, the reader (both students and teacher) can make sense of how the pandemic shaped communities, families, and creative expression during this time.
Discuss how Grace Notes is an invitation to see that students’ own stories of boredom, isolation, family tensions, online learning, and hope are part of a larger cultural narrative that is worth reflecting on.
Students can journal about the idea of Grace Notes as a cultural time capsule – not only of COVID, but of how individuals, families, and societies process change and renewal. The following prompts can provide direction here:
- How does Grace Notes help me understand my own and other people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Why is it valuable to read a novel that connects with my own lived experience and that of others my age?
- How does Grace Notes remind us that storytelling and art is a way to preserve experiences and memories during world-changing events?
Comparison with other texts
Genre transformations
Students should experiment with reimagining a section of Grace Notes through a different genre lens. For example, they could recast a scene from lockdown as a dystopian, science-fiction, or post-apocalyptic narrative, considering how art and creativity might survive a world without freedom or connection. Future Girl* by Asphyxia, which is set in a near-future Melbourne, may be a useful model here. Students could also turn a moment from the text into a short story, considering the pace and emotional impact of shifting from verse to prose, or compose a script or monologue, highlighting the intricacies of characterisation and language in the text.
* Reading Australia title
The verse novel
Revisit discussions about verse novels (see Literature > Personal Response on Reading the Text > The Verse Novel) and what is unique about this form, especially in terms of voice and emotional depth. Compare Grace Notes to other Australian verse novels such as:
- Drift or Are You There, Buddha? by Pip Harry
- Sunshine on Vinegar Street by Karen Comer
- The Way of Dog* by Zana Fraillon
- The Art of Taxidermy* by Sharon Kernot
- Sister Heart* by Sally Morgan
* Reading Australia title
You can find more titles in Reading Australia’s verse novel archive, as well as NCACL’s Australian Verse Novels Resource. You can also check what is stocked in your English book room or school/community library.
Have students choose a verse novel other than Grace Notes and identify the shared features of this form (e.g. white space, fragmentation, multiple voices, musicality). They should consider how these features invite empathy and emotional reflection. As part of this discussion, encourage students to think about how verse novels are well-suited to help young readers navigate complex social issues.
Coming-of-age journeys
Have students reflect on their reading experience in relation to Bildungsroman (coming-of-age) narratives. They can begin by making notes on how readers develop empathy or new understandings as a result of reading about someone else’s relatable struggles and emotional journey.
In Grace Notes, the reader follows both Grace and Crux’s growth through adversity and artistic discovery. Students can think about other coming-of-age stories they have read or watched, and consider how the characters’ identities are shaped through crisis and, often, ingenuity. These moments of awakening are essential for building character, and help young people to see that their perspectives and experiences are culturally and socially valuable.
For more examples of coming-of-age texts, see Reading Australia’s coming-of-age archive.
Evaluation of the text
Representing Australian culture
Discuss the ways that Grace Notes reflects aspects of Australian culture. Students can identify the Melbourne setting and the local references to trams, laneways, and significant landmarks. There is also a sense of a multicultural community that contributes to the wider Australian tone. Have students look for examples of resilience, creativity, and connectedness in the novel that typify the way Australians respond to crises. They can work through the following questions individually, in pairs, or in small groups:
- In what ways does the Melbourne lockdown represent a broader Australian cultural moment during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- How does the novel position creativity as a form of hope, unity, and national identity?
- How does the novel reflect the Australian arts scene, especially through its portrayal of musical performance and creative collaboration?
Encourage students to reflect on Grace Notes as a culturally resonant text, both locally and nationally.
Significance in the world of literature
Grace Notes was Comer’s debut verse novel and won the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Older Readers in 2024. Students can view the CBCA Shadow Judging criteria, think about how it applies to Grace Notes, and consider the significance of winning this prestigious national award in the broader literary landscape.
Students can then write a response to the following prompt:
In your view, why does Grace Notes matter – to you, to Australia, and to the world of literature?
Students may wish to consider:
- The ways that the verse novel form elevates everyday experiences into art
- The COVID-19 theme offering readers a way to process collective trauma through story and language
- The growing literary importance of verse novels and young adult literature as vehicles for empathy, reflection, and cultural record
Rich assessment tasks
Creative free verse responses
After considering Comer’s use of free verse to explore the power of creativity in times of crisis, students should experiment with writing their own free verse pieces. Drawing inspiration from Grace Notes, they can compose a piece that gives voice to a personal or social experience. Students may choose to write about family relationships, memories, friendships, the arts, COVID-19, or the nature of strength, identity, hope through creativity, and so on.
The aim is for students to explore how the poetic form can translate lived experiences into art.
School mural project
Students are to design a concept for a mural that expresses the identities, experiences, and resilience of young people within their school and broader community. This task consists of two parts: design and proposal. For inspiration and to discuss the nature of murals as a means of connection and communication, consider the Australian Silo Art Trail.
Part 1: design
Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to design a mural that represents their experiences growing up today. The mural could borrow ideas from Grace Notes (hope through creativity, family connection, how the arts aid recovery, celebrating everyday grace notes), or it could be more reflective of students’ own worlds. They should include some clear visual symbols and intentional use of colour to help deliver the message. They can complete their design digitally or on paper.
Part 2: proposal
Students are to prepare their best persuasive pitch in the form of a letter, email, slide deck, or oral presentation to school leadership, advocating for their mural to be realised. The proposal should include a clear explanation of the mural’s concept and purpose, as well as the symbols/colours used. Students should identify a location for the mural within school grounds, the materials needed to construct it, and some consideration of its educational and/or cultural value (supporting student wellbeing, community pride, etc.).
Synthesise core ideas
I used to think … but now I think …
Now that they have done some close reading and analysis of Grace Notes, students could revisit their initial responses to the verse novel to acknowledge different aspects of Comer’s craft.
Using the ‘I used to think … but now I think …’ routine, students can reflect on how their thinking about Grace Notes has evolved from their first reading to now, having considered it from different angles over the course of this unit.
For example, students may have initially found the text to be fragmented or sparse, but now appreciate the white space, broken lines, and shifting perspectives. Their feelings about Grace or Crux may have changed, or perhaps different features of plot, character, or theme now stand out to them.
The power of verse
Grace Notes demonstrates that creative expression is not a luxury but a vital tool for survival and connection.
Have the class jointly write an extended response to this statement, considering how the verse novel form contributes to Comer’s message: that the arts offer young people ways to explore identity, process grief, and discover resilience.
Students could evaluate their own experience of reading a verse novel as opposed to a traditional prose narrative, and consider how form shapes their emotional response and comprehension of complex themes.
Cultural value
Discuss how Grace Notes resonates with readers beyond its immediate narrative. It highlights how art and creativity are essential cultural resources, especially in times of upheaval. Students can list the ways this is seen in the novel and in wider society (e.g. by fostering community, preserving memory, and even offering hope). They could record their ideas in a Venn diagram, table, or other visual format.
Who we are under crisis
Students should create a multimodal piece that explores how the arts unite and empower people in challenging times. They can experiment with verse, image, and other multimodal forms of expression (Art of Smart has a useful blog post on this topic). Students may consider collective experiences such as war or climate change, or individual experiences such as grief or loneliness, to frame reflection on how art can promote healing and hope in times of crisis.
Students can then reflect on how their finished multimodal projects align with or diverge from Comer’s literary technique and style. Help them see that reading encourages creativity and that there is no one way to be creative; Grace Notes itself models different creative processes. It also shows us that the contributions young people make to the arts are essential, especially in times of uncertainty and upheaval.
Rich assessment task
Ask students to think about a significant experience or concern in their own lives. This could range from making friends, getting a job, or going on a holiday to broader global issues that they feel strongly about. Students are to create a poetic response to this experience/concern that echoes Comer’s style (i.e. use of white space, metaphor, fragments, and so on).
Students should write a minimum of 20 lines of free verse poetry. They should also write a further 300–400 words reflecting on how Comer’s craft has influenced their response, and how engaging with the poetic form has deepened their understanding or appreciation of:
- Their chosen experience/concern
- Grace Notes as a work of literature
- Poetic forms more broadly
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