Educators

Educator’s Guide: Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension

Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension is a young adult novel-in-verse written in response to the viral spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators can use it in their classrooms to help students think critically about science and media literacy, the insidious damage of conspiracy theories, and how empathy and forgiveness can help us connect with people who seem to be living in other realities. These themes are especially relevant to today’s teens, who live in a world where deep fakes and social media algorithms are challenging our fundamental sense of what’s true.

As a story in verse, Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension works well as a bridge between fiction and poetry units. Its format offers many opportunities to discuss poetic techniques such as rhythm, repetition, figurative language, line breaks, and stanza structure.

Below are questions and prompts that educators may use to guide students’ discussion of Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension’s themes and format.

  • Pages: 320
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Ages: 14+
Plot Synopsis

NASA has assured everyone the passage of rogue planet Malachite will be safe, but Crosby’s been getting other messages—from a fortune teller and Malachite truther message boards. And now she believes that Malachite will kill everyone who doesn’t ascend to the fourth dimension—a higher plane that transcends physicality.

She tries to prepare her friends and family to leave their bodies behind and raise their frequency by changing their diets, wearing the right crystals, and moving into her friend’s bunker before it’s too late. But no one is listening.

The more time she spends trying to talk her roommate and her quirky friends into her apocalypse plans, the more Crosby is forced to face the cracks in everything she believes to be true.

Discussion Questions

spoilers ahead!

  1. Discuss the author’s decision to write Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension in verse. How would it have been different if written in prose?
  1. The people Crosby becomes close to in college have a strong influence on her beliefs about truth, science, and spirituality. How do her conversations with Bailey, Teagan, and Deva challenge or support her beliefs?
  1. One of Crosby’s core beliefs is that everything happens for a reason. Do you agree? Why or why not?
  1. Over the course of the novel, Crosby becomes increasingly anxious about Malachite’s approach. What pre-existing factors make her susceptible to conspiracies, and how do social media and news outlets contribute to her paranoia?
  1. As Crosby drifts further from her best friend Shannon, their only interactions are over text. Discuss the differences between text and face-to-face communication. Is it possible to have a healthy text-only relationship?
  1. In “Meaningless,” one of the final poems, Crosby reflects on Shannon saying, “Not everything is an omen, Crosby. Not everything means something.” How did those words affect Crosby originally, and why do they hit different now?
  1. Crosby has a complex relationship with her spiritual mentor Deva. Discuss how Deva’s death affects Crosby and her beliefs about Malachite.
Questions for Personal Reflection

Questions

  1. How do you get your news? From social media? Friends? Family? Podcasts? How can you evaluate the credibility of these sources?
  1. Write a list of 5-10 things you consider to be absolutely true. Now go down the list and ask yourself what, if anything, could change your mind about each belief.
  1. Think about someone with whom you disagree on a social or political issue. What do you wish they could understand about your perspective? What do you wish you could understand about theirs?
Creative Writing Prompts
  1. In Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension, the natural world is an important part of Crosby’s identity and spirituality. Do a close reading of the poem “Northwestern Nocturn,” then write your own ode to a setting that has personal significance. Use specific sensory details to help paint a portrait for your reader. What sounds do you associate with this place? What smells? What textures? How has the history of this place shaped what it’s like in the present? Feel free to research your chosen setting for inspiration.
  2. In the poem “How to Vibrate at a Higher Frequency,” Crosby catalogs the steps she’s taking to save herself from Malachite’s impact. Write your own disaster-preparedness poem in the form of a list. The tone can be as silly, sarcastic, or serious as you’d like.
  3. “I Can’t Stop Checking the Time” is a poem in the form of a countdown. Write a list of events, either real or fictional, that someone could either dread or eagerly anticipate. Then write a countdown poem that gives us snapshots of the moments leading up to that event.