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Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope

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Lessons for the short story: “One Day, Lily, One Day” from this collection of seven stories written by South African author Beverley Naidoo.

This 21 page short story is set during the time of Apartheid in 1960s South Africa, with references to the formation of the Suppression of Communism Act and the Abolition of Passes Act, the story follows eleven-year-old Lily. Lily is a white girl whose parents taught her to believe that all people are equal. Her values are challenged when she befriends another white girl, Caroline, whose parents feel the exact opposite of Lily’s parents. Caroline’s parents do not think black people deserve the same rights as whites. After Lily’s father is arrested for fighting with the resistance against Apartheid and labeled a communist, Lily must make a difficult choice between friendship and her beliefs about racial injustice.

  • Big Idea: Conflict may allow for synthesis and change.
  • Essential question: How do different people handle inequality and what does this show about their character?
  • Pair this short text with the YA novel, A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee

Starters: Using the Cover to Cover Pre Reading Activity

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​The first activity is an investigation of two versions of the novel cover. This is a partner activity with a compare and contrast writing sample as a final product.

Differentiation Tip for Struggling Readers

“Out of Bounds” by Beverley Naidoo has an interest level of grades 6 – 8 and the reading level is grade level 5.3/Lexile® Measure: 750L. If you anticipate that the text will be too challenging for some readers, I recommend “The Leaf Rakers,” published in the Fall 2013 issue of Teaching Tolerance Magazine. This shorter text (set in modern day America) is much easier to read, but conveys a similar message. You may want to use it as a paired text. Read aloud “One Day, Lily, One Day” to your class, and then have students read this secondary (one page) text independently. To encourage students to make connections between the two texts, follow up the reading with the “Paired Text” activities shown below. 

Coming of Age

A coming of age story is a genre of literature that focuses on the growth of a character from youth to adulthood. Bildungsroman is a specific subgenre focusing on the character’s psychological and moral growth. Changes in a character are key to this genre. ​Students will identify elements of the genre in “One Day, Lily, One Day” using a mini anchor chart.

Students may cite examples like Lily’s friend (Janey’s relative Busi) being involved in a shooting, the loss of her father when he is sent to jail, or the loss of her friendship with Caroline. Students may also cite “off to war,” not that Lily actually goes off to war, but her parents are engaged in a political battle. The protest that turned violent and resulted in people being shot is comparable to war. Students may also cite “club membership,” but explain that rather than gaining membership in a club, Lily has lost membership in a club due to having different opinions from the rest of the group.

Some prompts to use for writing or discussion during this lesson:

  • What turning points determine our individual pathways to adulthood?
  • What does it mean to grow up?
  • How has your thinking about what it means to grow up changed after this lesson? 

This would be a good time to revisit that quote from the author about the title of this book. Ask students, ​”What is the significance of the title Out of Bounds and how is it connected to the character and theme in this particular story?” 
*Think about how the character is limited by physical, emotional, or thinking boundaries and how crossing these boundaries transforms the character.

Word Choice

The word native is used several times in this text and is worth exploring in further detail. To begin, I show students a one-minute video clip of a courtroom scene from Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom. Discuss what students notice and what they wonder. We learn about connotative and denotative meanings and apply that to the word native. In another activity, students describe how the word native connects to the characters, setting, conflict, and theme in this text.

​We end this lesson with a writing or discussion prompt: ​How can the negative connotations associated with a native culture be harmful? What examples can you cite to support your thinking?

The loaded words activity examines other vocabulary words from the text. Students write words on a chart with columns labeled positive, negative, and neutral. This would be a good activity to do BEFORE READING THE TEXT. Have students categorize the vocabulary words before reading, and then revisit this page and have the students decide if there are words that they want to change their mind about. For example, before reading the text students might categorize the word “boy” as neutral, but may feel the word is negatively charged after reading the text. Ask students to share one word that they changed their mind about and why.

Conflict and Hope

You can’t read a text with conflict in the title and not include a lesson on conflict. In this activity, students summarize the conflict and include at least two clear examples of plot points that are a direct cause of the major conflict in this text. Wrap up the lessons with an exit ticket on the positive and negative results of conflict, as well as something to be hopeful about.

Paired Texts and Additional Resources:

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