Mortal Engines

High school (ages 12+)
Art & Creativity

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mortal-engines

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who wrote Mortal Engines?Philip Reeve
2. What is the category?Young adult science fiction novel
3. What is the first published?2001
4. What are Traction Cities?Traction Cities are huge, moving cities that travel across the land. They are built like giant machines with engines, gears, and smokestacks. They can capture and eat smaller towns to get food and materials.
5. Why do the cities chase other towns?The cities chase other towns because they need resources like fuel, metal, and technology to keep moving. After a big war, resources are scarce, so the cities hunt to survive.

Traction City: A colossal, self-propelled urban settlement designed for mobility and resource acquisition in a post-apocalyptic environment.
Municipal Darwinism: The socio-political concept where mobile cities engage in a predatory struggle for survival, consuming lesser settlements.
Steampunk: A subgenre of science fiction characterized by anachronistic technology and aesthetics, often inspired by Victorian-era industrialization and steam power.
Sixty Minute War: A cataclysmic global conflict in the novel's backstory that led to widespread destruction and resource depletion.