Serafina and the Black Cloak

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Dangerous Territory”

With a novel like Serafina and the Black Cloak, the text more enjoyable to read and better understood when you apply good visualization skills. As Serafina goes from floor to floor, room to room, or inside to outside, you probably use your imagination to “watch” the action and movement within a changing setting.

In this activity, use your visualization skills to mark Serafina’s movements on a map of the estate.

Part A: First create your maps. The map of a house is a special drawing called a floorplan. Floorplans show each floor of house as if viewed from above.

1. Sketch rough floorplans of three levels of Biltmore on poster or large printer paper: the basement, the first floor, and the second floor.

Include and label rooms and spaces you read about in the novel:

• Basement: kitchens, workroom, stairs to subbasement, laundry, pantries, etc.
• First floor: Winter Garden, Entrance Hall, Tapestry Gallery, etc.
• Second floor: Braeden’s bedroom, the named guest bedrooms (Raphael Room, Morland Room, etc.), second floor living hall

You can use a ruler for straight lines, but do not worry about room measurements, relative size, or drawing to scale.