Mollyball / Visit Qyah
From Molly of Denali · 2019
Summary
When wet cement ruins their basketball rematch plans, Molly and her friends invent a brand-new game at the Trading Post — Mollyball — and quickly discover that explaining the rules clearly is even harder than playing the game. Then, after finding out that her village of Qyah isn't listed in a travel guidebook, Molly convinces the guidebook's author to visit and helps the whole community show off what makes Qyah special.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Inventing a game is one thing — explaining it so someone else can play is a different skill entirely.
- Why did the rules of Mollyball keep getting more complicated? What problem did that cause?
- How did the kids fix the problem of explaining their game?
- Why did Molly want Qyah added to the travel guidebook?
- What did Molly and the community do to show the author what makes their village special?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: rules, instructions, community, guidebook, represent.
Try it: Invent a simple game using something in your classroom. Write three clear rules for it, then have a partner try to follow them exactly.