All Thirteen

by Christina Soontornvat

Big Idea

Writers control pace by deciding when to speed up, slow down, pause, zoom in, or shift structure. In All Thirteen, Christina Soontornvat builds urgency, suspense, and understanding by balancing fast-moving rescue action with background information, diagrams, emotional details, and moments of reflection.

Discussion Questions

1.How did the cultural and religious context of Thailand influence the way the community responded to the crisis?
2.What role did science and engineering play in the rescue, and why was it necessary to combine these with local knowledge?
3.How does the author use the perspectives of both the trapped boys and the rescuers to build empathy?
4.What does this story teach us about the importance of teamwork and staying calm under extreme pressure?
5.Why is it important to tell true stories like this from the perspective of the people who lived them?

Classroom Activity

Build a Rescue-Pace Page

Create one nonfiction page inspired by All Thirteen that teaches readers about a high-stakes rescue moment while controlling pace. Choose one moment from the book or invent a similar nonfiction-style rescue scene.

Lesson Plan

⏱ 45 minutes📦 Paper, pencils, optional: graph paper for maps/diagrams, colored pencils for visual features

Learning Goals

Writers control pace by deciding when to speed up, slow down, pause, zoom in, or shift structure.
Understand how balancing fast-moving rescue action with background information creates urgency and understanding.
Use precise words, sensory details, and structural choices to make nonfiction feel real.
Create a nonfiction page that teaches readers about a high-stakes rescue moment while controlling pace.

Activity Steps

1.Use fast pace: short sentences and action verbs.
2.Add slow pace: sensory details, emotions, or explanation.
3.Include one question that makes the reader wonder what will happen next.
4.Include one important rescue object and explain why it matters.
5.Add one visual feature: map, diagram, timeline, labeled sketch, or list.
6.Use one pause: a short sentence or white space to slow the reader down.
7.End with one cliffhanger full of suspense.
8.Reflect: Where did you speed up? Where did you slow down? What detail helped readers picture the scene?

Standards Connections

ELA: RI.5.3 (Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, or ideas)
Science: 3-5-ETS1-1 (Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want)
SEL: Relationship Skills (Collaborating to solve problems)
Social Studies: Geography and Human-Environment Interaction

Classroom Resources

Enjoy gamifying this read:

Gimkit

Wayground

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

Christina Soontornvat’s 'All Thirteen' is a masterclass in narrative nonfiction, utilizing a documentary-style tone that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. By employing the present tense, Soontornvat creates an immediate, visceral experience that makes the reader feel as though they are witnessing the rescue in real-time. This pacing choice is crucial for maintaining tension throughout a story where the outcome is historically known but emotionally gripping. Beyond the timeline, the book teaches the craft of 'layering' information. Soontornvat expertly weaves together personal narratives, scientific explanations of cave systems, and cultural context. This structure allows the reader to pause and absorb complex information without losing the momentum of the rescue narrative. It is an essential study in how to balance 'showing' the action with 'explaining' the context, ensuring the reader remains fully invested in both the characters and the mechanics of the rescue.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
Pace	The book moves between quick rescue updates and slower explanations of caves, diving, weather, teamwork, and Thai culture. This keeps readers both tense and informed. Try It: Write one event two ways — 1. Fast pace: short sentences, action verbs. 2. Slow pace: sensory details, thoughts, explanations.
Plot	The plot follows a real rescue problem: thirteen people are trapped, time is running out, and rescuers must solve one problem after another. Notice: The story has natural rising action because each rescue attempt brings new danger. Try It: Create a rescue-problem chain: Problem → Attempt → New problem → Risk → Decision → Result
Prosody	Prosody is the sound and rhythm of language. Soontornvat varies sentence length to match danger, wonder, fear, or relief. Try It: Read a tense paragraph aloud. Mark where your voice speeds up, slows down, or pauses.
Word Pause	The book uses precise words: cave, chamber, monsoon, oxygen, current, diver, risk, sedation, passage. Specific words make nonfiction feel real. Try It: Replace vague words with exact words: 'place' → 'flooded cave chamber', 'people' → 'rescue divers', 'problem' → 'dropping oxygen levels'
Concept	The central concept is survival through courage, science, teamwork, and persistence. Writing Move: A strong nonfiction concept connects facts to meaning. Try It: Finish this sentence: 'This rescue was not only about escape; it was also about ______.'
Voice & World View	The voice is clear, respectful, suspenseful, and compassionate. The worldview shows that many kinds of knowledge matter: local knowledge, science, leadership, bravery, and community care. Try It: Write a short paragraph about a challenge using a voice that is calm, urgent, or hopeful.
Setting & Place	The cave is not just a background. It shapes the entire story. Darkness, water, narrow passages, distance, and weather all create danger. Try It: Describe a setting that creates a problem for your characters. Sentence starter: 'The place itself became a challenge because ______.'
Point of View	The book shifts attention among the boys, coach, families, divers, engineers, doctors, officials, and volunteers. This creates a full picture of the event. Try It: Retell one moment from three points of view: a trapped boy, a diver, a family member waiting outside.
Original Characters	Because this is nonfiction, the 'characters' are real people. Soontornvat shows their roles, strengths, fears, and choices. Try It: Choose one real person from the rescue. List: Name/Role \| Challenge \| Strength \| Important choice.
Dialogue	Dialogue is limited in nonfiction, but when included or paraphrased, it helps reveal fear, hope, planning, or teamwork. Try It: Write two lines of realistic dialogue between rescuers planning a dangerous step.
Details	Concrete details make the rescue believable: water levels, cave length, equipment, weather, food, oxygen, and timing. Try It: Add three specific details to this sentence: 'The rescuers entered the cave.'
Descriptions	Descriptions help readers imagine what they cannot see: darkness, cold water, tight rock, silence, waiting crowds. Try It: Describe the cave using four senses.
Strong First Lines	Strong first lines pull readers into danger, mystery, or urgency. Try It: Write three possible first lines for a rescue story: 1. Action first, 2. Question first, 3. Setting first.
Immediacy & Engagement	The book feels immediate because readers know lives are at stake. Questions keep us reading: Will they be found? Can they survive? How will they get out? Try It: Add a question at the end of a paragraph to make readers turn the page.
Story Scenes & Summaries & Unique Structures	Soontornvat uses both scenes and summaries. Scenes slow down important moments. Summaries move quickly across time, science, or background. Try It: Label a page or section: Scene (happening moment-by-moment) or Summary (explaining or covering time quickly).
Flashback & Flash Forward & Cliffhangers	The book sometimes gives background information that helps readers understand the present danger. Chapter endings can feel like cliffhangers because the rescue is unresolved. Try It: Write a paragraph that begins in a tense moment, then flashes back to explain how the problem began.
Tension & Suspense & Surprise	Tension comes from danger, time pressure, unknown outcomes, and difficult choices. Surprise comes when solutions are unexpected. Try It: Build suspense with this pattern: Goal → Obstacle → Time limit → Risk → Question.
Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Chapter breaks can pause at moments of uncertainty. This creates momentum. Try It: End a section with a sentence that makes readers want the next page. Example: 'Then the rescuers realized the hardest part had not even begun.'
Performance	Creative pacing means knowing when to pause for facts and when to race through action. The author uses diagrams, maps, headings, and images to help readers understand complex information. Try It: Add one visual feature to a nonfiction page: map, timeline, diagram, list, or labeled sketch.
Personality	This book is serious, but personality appears through human moments: friendship, care, encouragement, and determination. Try It: Write a serious scene that includes one small human moment of comfort or personality.
Humor	Humor is used carefully, if at all, because the situation is life-threatening. Personality appears through human moments of friendship and care. Try It: Write a serious scene that includes one small human moment of comfort or personality.
Pause	Pauses give readers time to feel emotion or understand information. A pause can be a short sentence, a blank space, a photograph, or a quiet detail. Try It: Add a one-sentence pause after a tense paragraph. Example: 'Outside the cave, families waited.'
Poetry and Poetic Devices	Even nonfiction can use poetic language: repetition, rhythm, contrast, imagery, and powerful verbs. Try It: Write three vivid phrases about the cave without rhyming.
Repetition	Repetition can build emotion. The book repeats key ideas—danger, hope, teamwork—to reinforce meaning. Try It: Write a tense moment using three short sentences in a row that repeat a key word.
Rhythm	Short sentences create urgency. Long sentences create reflection. Soontornvat varies rhythm to match the rescue's intensity. Try It: Write a tense moment using three short sentences in a row.
Punctuation	Dashes, commas, and periods control breath and pacing. Short sentences with periods create urgency; dashes create sudden shifts. Try It: Rewrite a paragraph changing only the punctuation to shift the pace.
Questions	Questions drive nonfiction suspense. Try It: Write five questions a reader might ask during the rescue.
Compare-Contrast	The book contrasts dark cave / bright outside, trapped boys / waiting families, danger / hope, science / courage, speed / patience. Try It: Create a compare-contrast chart: Inside the Cave vs. Outside the Cave.
Objects	Objects carry meaning: ropes, oxygen tanks, masks, pumps, maps, food, flashlights. Try It: Choose one object and explain why it matters to the rescue.
Threes	Groups of three can make writing memorable. Try It: Complete this sentence: 'The rescue required ______, ______, and ______.'
Whitespace & Negative Space	White space gives readers room to process difficult or dramatic information. It can also make a page feel quiet, tense, or important. Try It: Write a short dramatic moment with only one sentence per line.
Art & Graphics	Maps, photographs, diagrams, and visual layouts help readers understand the cave and rescue plan. Try It: Draw or design a page feature that explains one rescue challenge.
Interactives & Gamification	Readers can learn by making choices, solving problems, or building a rescue plan. Try It: Create a 'Rescue Decision Card' with: Situation, Three choices, Risk of each choice, Best decision and why.

Pace-Write It!

Student Activity: Build a Rescue-Pace Page Goal: Create one nonfiction page inspired by All Thirteen that teaches readers about a high-stakes rescue moment while controlling pace. Directions: Choose one moment from the book or invent a similar nonfiction-style rescue scene. Your page must include: Fast Pace — Use short sentences and action verbs. Slow Pace — Add sensory details, emotions, or explanation. One Question — Make the reader wonder what will happen next. One Object — Include an important rescue object. One Visual Feature — Add a map, diagram, timeline, labeled sketch, or list. One Pause — Use a short sentence or white space to slow the reader down. One Cliffhanger — End with suspense. Writing Frame: Title: ___________________________ The rescue team knew they had to move quickly. But the place itself made everything harder. One object mattered most: __________________. It was important because __________________. Then a new problem appeared. Could they __________________ before __________________? For a moment, everything stopped. And then, just when hope seemed close, __________________. Reflection Questions: Where did you speed up the pace? Where did you slow down the pace? What detail helped readers picture the scene? What question created suspense? How did your visual feature help the reader understand the rescue?