King of the Neuro Verse

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For Pernell, the cypher is a space where people listen, respond, and build on one another’s ideas. After reading King of the Neuro Verse, invite students to experience a cypher as a collaborative form of expression.

Make sure students understand that their participation in the cypher is about improvisation, exchange, response, and community before having them gather in small groups. Ask them to identify a theme or themes from the novel that resonate with them, then share a word, phrase, rhythm, or line that connects to that idea. Encourage students to respond to what others contribute and let the group’s ideas shape the direction of the cypher as they experiment, take creative risks, and support one another.

After the cypher, ask students to reflect on what the experience revealed about communication and community. How did listening to others influence what you contributed? How was being in a cypher different from creating something alone? What did the cypher allow you to express or experience that writing alone might not?

Questions for Discussion or Reflective Writing

• What does Pernell get out of recording his thoughts for the future? Why do you think he reaches for the recorder less and less towards the end of the book?
• How does Pernell’s Cypher King ambition echo Hamlet? What helps Pernell eventually connect with Shakespeare? What does that discovery change about the way he sees himself?
• Why does becoming Cypher King matter so much to Pernell? What does the school cafeteria cypher allow him to show about himself that other spaces in his life often miss? What does the novel suggest about the differences between perceived challenges and strengths?
• How does having a diagnosis for what he experiences change the way Pernell understands himself? What’s the difference between changing yourself and getting the support you need to be yourself?
• How do most of the adults in Pernell’s life balance supporting him with respecting who he already is? How is his relationship with Ms. Harding different?
• Why do you think Idris Goodwin chose to tell Pernell’s story in verse? How does reading Pernell’s thoughts in this form affect the way you understand his experiences and how he sees the world?

Related Resources

A Reading Group Guide to King of the Neuro Verse from Simon & Schuster

The Cypher: R.H.Y.M.E x LRYOH from Thrive Collective

The Poetics of Hip Hop: What is the relationship between Shakespearean sonnets and hip hop music? from the Kennedy Center