Cornerstone Academics
The Innkeeper's Dilemma
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The Innkeeper's Dilemma — Agnes Harrow has been running the Crossed Keys on the Canterbury road for eleven years and has seen most of what a roadside inn can produce — and none of it prepared her for the Blackwell party and the Dunmore party arriving within a quarter hour of each other in April 1385. The two parties cannot be housed together. The inn has one remaining room. Agnes pauses for exactly the length of time required for a decision.
Each packet includes:
- Original classical short story (complete text)
- Notes on historical setting and literary tradition
- Narration prompts (oral and written)
- Comprehension questions — literal and inferential
- Vocabulary exercises
- Character Constellation graphic organizer (including Character Change Axis)
- Story Arc study (five movements, with attention to subtler turning points)
- Theme & Meaning questions
- Socratic discussion questions
- Literary Analysis (tone, diction, imagery, symbolism, contrast, motif, irony, structure, turning points, foreshadowing, allusion, narrative lens, narrative distance, narrative restraint)
- Copywork and memory work
- Optional writing prompts (reflective, explanatory, creative, analytical)
- Complete parent answer key
- Standards alignment
Written for Grade 9. Suitable for Grades 8–10 with guidance. This packet is available as a digital download only.

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PARENT OF A FORMER STUDENT

Read one story. Teach one week. Decide from experience.
Use it with your child. See samples of our stories, questions, and lesson pages.