About This Worksheet
This Grade 7 reading worksheet helps students trace how the theme of courage develops across The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. Rather than looking at one brave moment, students follow how a character’s choices and beliefs change as the story moves forward. They study challenges involving the first library ride, community criticism, and a dangerous delivery. For example, a small early risk may show the beginning of courage, while a later choice involving personal safety can reveal deeper bravery.
Learning Goals
The main goal is to help students understand that a theme grows through events, decisions, and changing beliefs. Readers should already know how to identify character actions and locate supporting details in a novel. This activity moves them toward explaining how several scenes work together to develop one central idea over time. It supports CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3, which focus on theme development and the way story elements shape characters.
Student Tasks
On this worksheet, students will examine three chapter sections and describe how courage appears in each one. Every response must include at least one specific event or line of dialogue from the novel. Students will then complete a belief tracker showing what the main character thinks about taking risks at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Their answers should explain how the character’s understanding of courage becomes more mature or complicated.
Common Challenges
Some students may list brave actions without explaining what those actions reveal about the character. Others may treat courage as simply having no fear, even though brave people often act while they are afraid. The belief tracker may also become a plot summary if students do not focus on changing ideas. Encourage them to complete the thought, “This moment shows the character now believes courage means…”
Teaching Suggestions
A teacher can model one chapter by separating the event, the character’s choice, and the lesson about courage into three short notes. Students can then use that same pattern for the remaining scenes. At home, a parent can ask how the character’s later choices differ from the risks taken near the beginning. This kind of conversation helps the child see that courage develops rather than appearing all at once.
Worksheet Features
The worksheet combines a chapter-based courage timeline with a separate belief tracker. Specific chapter prompts guide students toward meaningful scenes while still requiring their own evidence and explanations. The layout gives them room to compare early, middle, and later changes in the character’s thinking. This page works well for guided novel study, theme review, class discussion, or an analytical paragraph.