by J.D. Salinger
The Stories:
The Stories:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948)
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" (1948)
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (1948)
"The Laughing Man" (1949)
"Down at the Dinghy" (1949)
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" (1950)
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (1951)
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" (1952)
"Teddy" (1953)
Summary and Analysis for:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"
Monday, November 5, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Age of Miracles
by Karen Thompson Walker
For more information on the book, author, reviews, and readers' guide, visit the website for the book The Age of Miracles.
Questions to consider after reading The Age of Miracles. From The Age of Miracles website.
1. As readers, why do you think we’re drawn to stories about the end of the world? What special pleasures do these kinds of narratives offer? And how do you think this element works in The Age of Miracles?
2. Julia is an only child. How does this fact affect who she is and how she sees the world? How would her experience of the slowing be different if she had a sibling? How would her experience of middle school be different?
3. How much do you think the slowing alters Julia’s experience of adolescence? If the slowing had never happened, in what ways would her childhood have been different? In what ways would it have been the same?
4. Julia’s parents’ marriage becomes increasingly strained over the course of the book. Why do you think they stay together? Do you think it’s the right choice? How much do you think Julia’s mother does or does not know about Sylvia?
5. Julia’s father tells several crucial lies. Discuss these lies and consider which ones, if any, are justified and which ones are not. Is lying ever the right thing to do? If so, when?
6. How would the book change if it were narrated by Julia’s mother? What if it were narrated by Julia’s father? Or her grandfather?
7. Why do you think Julia is so drawn to Seth? Why do you think he is drawn to her?
8. Did you identify more with the clock-timers or with the real-timers? Which would you be and why?
9. The slowing affects the whole planet, but the book is set in southern California. How does the setting affect the book? How important is it that the story takes place in California?
10. How do you feel about the way the book ends? What do you think lies ahead for Julia, for her parents and for the world?
11. The slowing throws the natural world into disarray. Plants and animals die and there are changes in the weather. Did this book make you think about the threats that face our own natural world? Do you think the book has something to say about climate change?
12. If you woke up tomorrow to the news that the rotation of the earth had significantly slowed, how do you think you would respond? What is the first thing you would do?
For more information on the book, author, reviews, and readers' guide, visit the website for the book The Age of Miracles.
Questions to consider after reading The Age of Miracles. From The Age of Miracles website.
1. As readers, why do you think we’re drawn to stories about the end of the world? What special pleasures do these kinds of narratives offer? And how do you think this element works in The Age of Miracles?
2. Julia is an only child. How does this fact affect who she is and how she sees the world? How would her experience of the slowing be different if she had a sibling? How would her experience of middle school be different?
3. How much do you think the slowing alters Julia’s experience of adolescence? If the slowing had never happened, in what ways would her childhood have been different? In what ways would it have been the same?
4. Julia’s parents’ marriage becomes increasingly strained over the course of the book. Why do you think they stay together? Do you think it’s the right choice? How much do you think Julia’s mother does or does not know about Sylvia?
5. Julia’s father tells several crucial lies. Discuss these lies and consider which ones, if any, are justified and which ones are not. Is lying ever the right thing to do? If so, when?
6. How would the book change if it were narrated by Julia’s mother? What if it were narrated by Julia’s father? Or her grandfather?
7. Why do you think Julia is so drawn to Seth? Why do you think he is drawn to her?
8. Did you identify more with the clock-timers or with the real-timers? Which would you be and why?
9. The slowing affects the whole planet, but the book is set in southern California. How does the setting affect the book? How important is it that the story takes place in California?
10. How do you feel about the way the book ends? What do you think lies ahead for Julia, for her parents and for the world?
11. The slowing throws the natural world into disarray. Plants and animals die and there are changes in the weather. Did this book make you think about the threats that face our own natural world? Do you think the book has something to say about climate change?
12. If you woke up tomorrow to the news that the rotation of the earth had significantly slowed, how do you think you would respond? What is the first thing you would do?
Monday, October 29, 2012
Same Kind of Different as Me
by Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent
For more on this book visit www.samekindofdifferentasme.com
Also, an excellent book review on the Teen Ink website
For more on this book visit www.samekindofdifferentasme.com
Also, an excellent book review on the Teen Ink website
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Magill Book Review: Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, begins to doubt his society's high-speed, hedonistic way of life when he meets Clarisse McClellan, a young girl whose family lives a slower, more graceful existence. Clarisse shares her values with him until the McClellans mysteriously disappear.As Montag's dissatisfaction increases, he seeks out a retired English professor named Faber for support. However, Montag's chief, Beatty, correctly suspects Montag of being a secret reader and book collector. After Beatty burns down Montag's house, he must flee civilization and, on Faber's advice, find a group of outcasts who have dedicated themselves to memorizing whole books while their society destroys itself in a pointless war. Though the novel focuses on a book burner, it is more than a diatribe against censorship. Rather, it pictures a society, not far removed from our own, in which books and the leisure, thought, and tolerance necessary to enjoy them are no longer valued. The firemen simply enforce the will of a people who desire only conformity, unrelated facts, and immediate gratification. The most frightening aspect of the story is the portrayal of Montag's wife, Mildred, and her friends, who live through electronic entertainment devices. The debasement of the quality of life through the misuses of technology and the neglect of literature is a persistent theme in Bradbury's fiction, but this novel remains his fullest treatment of the subject. The lyric power and symbolic richness of the book make this Bradbury's most satisfactory long fiction and a classic of speculative literature. The title of the novel is derived from the combustion temperature of paper: 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Questions for discussion
1. How do the contrasting personalities of Mildred and Clarisse depict the essential conflict of Montag?
2. What are the contradictions within the character of Captain Beatty? How does he represent the fallacy of censorship?
3. What is the symbolic significance of the sieve and of "Denham's Dentifrice"?
4. How is reading portrayed as a subversive act? How does the solitary experience of reading create a role for an individual within larger society?
5. The novel envisions a futuristic dystopia, a popular setting in other notable books of the era such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four (published a few years earlier, in 1945). How is Bradbury's vision significantly different from Orwell's and what does it say about censorship?
6. What does Beatty's argument about "minorities" share with the contemporary debate on censorship and "political correctness"?
7. How do Granger and his men remind us about the origins of stories and storytelling?
8. Bradbury is generally classified as a writer of science fiction. How does the novel challenge the definition of science fiction?
Magill Book Review: Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, begins to doubt his society's high-speed, hedonistic way of life when he meets Clarisse McClellan, a young girl whose family lives a slower, more graceful existence. Clarisse shares her values with him until the McClellans mysteriously disappear.As Montag's dissatisfaction increases, he seeks out a retired English professor named Faber for support. However, Montag's chief, Beatty, correctly suspects Montag of being a secret reader and book collector. After Beatty burns down Montag's house, he must flee civilization and, on Faber's advice, find a group of outcasts who have dedicated themselves to memorizing whole books while their society destroys itself in a pointless war. Though the novel focuses on a book burner, it is more than a diatribe against censorship. Rather, it pictures a society, not far removed from our own, in which books and the leisure, thought, and tolerance necessary to enjoy them are no longer valued. The firemen simply enforce the will of a people who desire only conformity, unrelated facts, and immediate gratification. The most frightening aspect of the story is the portrayal of Montag's wife, Mildred, and her friends, who live through electronic entertainment devices. The debasement of the quality of life through the misuses of technology and the neglect of literature is a persistent theme in Bradbury's fiction, but this novel remains his fullest treatment of the subject. The lyric power and symbolic richness of the book make this Bradbury's most satisfactory long fiction and a classic of speculative literature. The title of the novel is derived from the combustion temperature of paper: 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Questions for discussion
1. How do the contrasting personalities of Mildred and Clarisse depict the essential conflict of Montag?
2. What are the contradictions within the character of Captain Beatty? How does he represent the fallacy of censorship?
3. What is the symbolic significance of the sieve and of "Denham's Dentifrice"?
4. How is reading portrayed as a subversive act? How does the solitary experience of reading create a role for an individual within larger society?
5. The novel envisions a futuristic dystopia, a popular setting in other notable books of the era such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four (published a few years earlier, in 1945). How is Bradbury's vision significantly different from Orwell's and what does it say about censorship?
6. What does Beatty's argument about "minorities" share with the contemporary debate on censorship and "political correctness"?
7. How do Granger and his men remind us about the origins of stories and storytelling?
8. Bradbury is generally classified as a writer of science fiction. How does the novel challenge the definition of science fiction?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
Please visit the author's website for more information.
http://erinmorgenstern.com/the-night-circus/
Please visit the author's website for more information.
http://erinmorgenstern.com/the-night-circus/
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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