Meet Mary Shelley | Frankenstein Pre-Reading Activities & Author Study

Meet Mary Shelley | Frankenstein Pre-Reading Activities & Author Study

Before students meet the monster, help them meet the writer.

Who was Mary Shelley? What shaped her life, her writing, and her place in literary history? And how did a story imagined by a teenager become one of the most enduring works in Gothic literature?

Meet Mary Shelley: The Young Writer Behind Frankenstein is a high school ELA pre-reading resource designed to introduce students to Mary Shelley, her world, and the literary legacy of Frankenstein before they begin the novel.

Rather than relying on a traditional biography lecture, this resource combines biographical reading, historical context, visual analysis, collaborative stations, and open-ended questions to help students build background knowledge and develop their own ideas.

Students will explore Mary Shelley as a writer in her own right, examine the scientific and intellectual climate of her time, analyze book covers and the novel's original title page, and consider the questions of responsibility, ambition, isolation, and humanity that make Frankenstein such a lasting work.

Best of all, the activities build curiosity without giving away the novel's plot or telling students what to think before they read.

What's Included?

Part I: Meet Mary Shelley

A biographical reading section that introduces students to the person behind the novel, including:

• Her family, childhood, and intellectual influences
• Her reading, writing, independence, and personal choices
• The summer of 1816 and the origins of Frankenstein
• Personal loss and the circumstances surrounding her writing
• A chronological timeline of her life and literary career

Students practice distinguishing documented facts from reasonable inferences while considering how a writer's experiences might inform, but do not automatically explain, a literary work.

Part II: Six Pre-Reading Stations

Station 1: Mary the Writer

Explore Mary Shelley's broader writing career and discover the work that extended beyond her most famous novel.

Station 2: Her World: Science & Ideas

Investigate the scientific experiments and intellectual movements surrounding Shelley, including the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and contemporary questions about electricity and life.

Station 3: Reading the Covers

Analyze Frankenstein book covers to examine visual choices, symbolism, emphasis, and the expectations publishers create for readers. Students compare multiple covers supplied by the teacher.

Station 4: The Title Page

Examine the original 1818 title page, the subtitle The Modern Prometheus, the epigraph from Paradise Lost, and the significance of the unnamed author.

Station 5: Big Ideas in Action

Use everyday scenarios to consider curiosity, ambition, responsibility, judgment, and the effects of how people are treated.

Station 6: Frankenstein Beyond the Page

Examine how popular culture shapes students' existing ideas about Frankenstein. Students consider familiar images of the creature, revisit common myths and facts, and explore how the story has been adapted and reinterpreted over time.

Part III: Questions to Carry Into the Novel

Bring the experience together with open-ended questions and reflection activities that invite students to record their initial thinking before reading.

Students consider questions such as:

• What do creators owe to what they create?
• Is curiosity always good? What are the limits of knowledge and ambition?
• What happens to people who feel alone or rejected?
• How do we decide who counts as human, and who counts as a monster?

These questions provide a starting point for future discussion and literary analysis as students read Frankenstein.

Teacher Materials Included

The accompanying teacher guide and station materials include:

• Lesson overview and recommended timing
• Teacher directions and station-by-station guidance
• Printable station cards
• Answer key and discussion notes
• Suggestions for group rotations and classroom implementation

Skills & Instructional Focus

This resource supports:

• Literary and historical context
• Close reading and evidence-based inference
• Visual and multimodal text analysis
• Author study and biographical reading
• Critical thinking and thematic exploration
• Collaborative discussion and written reflection
• Distinguishing fact, inference, and interpretation

Suggested Grade Levels

Grades 9–12 | High School English Language Arts | British Literature | Gothic Literature | Novel Studies

How to Use This Resource

Use the biographical section before beginning Frankenstein, then organize students into groups for the six stations. Depending on your schedule, the resource can be spread across multiple class periods or adapted to fit a longer block.

For the cover-analysis station, gather 6–10 different editions of Frankenstein or use projected cover images. Students will also need the printed station cards and their individual student packets.

This resource works well as an introductory author study, a pre-reading lesson, or a launch for a larger Frankenstein unit.

Help students approach a literary classic with context, curiosity, and questions worth carrying into the text.

If you use this resource, please leave a review — it helps other teachers find it and lets me know what to create next. Thank you for supporting independent educators!

©  The Bewitched Teacher. For single-classroom use. Please purchase additional licenses for sharing with colleagues.