Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein
For this round of literature the, HSHS (High School Home Schoolers) both have separate books. Their task is to read their book and tell us about what they have read. I haven't read either book in years. So after today and our first class I decided to read both of the books. I'm not doing this to check up on the girls but to get all the juicy goods from both books for myself!
So stay tuned for what we are doing for each book!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal... "
2. Describe the origin and spread of Animalism.
5. Describe the Battle of Windmill. What significant part does it play
in the plot? What does it symbolize?
8. Explain the death of Boxer.
9. Explain the roles of the dogs and Squealer in the book.
10. What is the fifth commandment? How is it altered?
BONUS questions.....
13. How is Animal Farm a protest against totalitarianism?
14. How is Animal Farm a Political Satire?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Is It the Right Title?
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leaves us nothing, but grief and pain,
For promised joy!"
Lennie and George are not alone. They are with every other man in their world who has a plan. Unfortunately, like the poem says, "The best schemes of mice and men go often askew." George and Lennie had a plan, but any plan can go wrong and that is what happened to theirs, which left them with nothing but grief and pain.
So even though the title, "Something That Happened" is perfect for this story, its actual title, "Of Mice and Men" is more appropriate. This title, which comes from Robert Burns' poem, relates mores to what happens in this book. Steinbeck chose a great title for his book and there is not a better one.
Banned Books Awareness Week
I just heard that there is Banned Books Awareness Week, September 26- October 3. This is what Half Price Books has to say about this week: Speak freely. Write candidly. Read endlessly. Celebrate your First Amendment rights during Banned Books Awareness Week, September 26 - October 3. And remember that Half Price Books buys and sells anything ever printed or recorded, including banned and challenged books. We applaud the courageous authors who open our eyes to controversial topics.
Here is a list of the top 100 banned books as listed by 100bannedbooks .
1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain
3. Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
4. Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
5. Andersonville (1955) by MacKinlay Kantor
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
7. 1001 Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean
8. As I Lay Dying (1932) by William Faulkner
9. The Bastard by John Jakes
10. Beloved by Toni Morrison
11. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
12. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
13. Blubber by Judy Blume
14. Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
15. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
16. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
17. Call of the Wild by Jack London
18. Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce
19. Candide by Voltaire
20. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
21. Carrie by Stephen King
22. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
23. Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger
24. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
25. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
26. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
27. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
28. Color Purple by Alice Walker
29. Confessions by JeanbyJacques Rousseau
30. Christine by Stephen King
31. Cujo by Stephen King
32. Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
33. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
34. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
35. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
36. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
37. Decameron by Boccaccio
38. Dubliners by James Joyce
39. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
40. Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
41. Fanny Hill by John Cleland
42. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
43. Forever by Judy Blume
44. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
45. The Goats by Brock Cole
46. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
47. Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
48. Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
49. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
50. Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
51. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
53. Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
54. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
55. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
56. House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
57. Howl by Allen Ginsberg
58. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
59. I Have to Go by Robert Munsch
60. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
61. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
62. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
63. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
64. King Lear by William Shakespeare
65. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
66. The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
67. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
68. Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
69. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
70. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
71. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
72. Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
73. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
74. Monk by Matthew Lewis
75. Native Son by Richard Wright
76. Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad
77. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
78. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
79. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
80. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
81. Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
82. Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
83. Portnoy's Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth
84. Private Parts by Howard Stern
85. Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
86. Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
87. Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
88. Separate Peace by John Knowles
89. Silas Marner by George Eliot
90. SlaughterhousebyFive by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
91. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
92. Sons & Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
93. The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
94. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
95. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
96. Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
97. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
98. Ulysses by James Joyce
99. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
100. Wrinkle in Time byMadeleine L'Engle
I found a great site that goes into why books are banned. Go to Delete Censorship for more information. Some books stay on the list. Others get added or deleted over time.
My opinion is that as a mother there might be books that I do not want my children to read. I do not feel a need to impose that on every child in America. As I looked over this list I see may books my daughters have already read. Some of the books on the list we are reading for High School Literature! This is something we will be discussing as we read and study together.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Animal Farm was published in 1945 by British author George Orwell. We learned that was a pseudonym for Eric Arthur Blair. This book criticized the Soviet Union so its release date was delayed until the end of WW2. The Soviet Union was one of England's allies.
The book had immediate success and sold out within its first month of publication. Orwell was a popular and experienced columnist and wanted to just publish Animal Farm as a pamphlet.
This novel brought together themes of the time which were politics, truth (that makes me laugh...truth and politics in the same sentence) and class conflict. These issues were a huge concern for Orwell.
Our class will be discussing allegory and fables. His messages from this 1945 publication are still relevant today and we will also be discussing this. We also learned that Animal Farm has never been out of print since its first publication!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Of Mice and Men and John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr., was born on February 27, 1902 and died December 20, 1968. We discussed the importance of knowing when someone was born and when they died. Their work often reflects on the time when they lived. Steinbeck lived through The Great Depression and his work on "Of Mice and Men" as well as other novels clearly show such influence. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California and grew up in the beautiful, fertile Salinas Valley. It is also important to know where one lived. Steinbeck used his knowledge of this area for he setting in many of his books.
Steinbeck grew up seeing workers and field hands in the valley. He saw their shacks that they called home. These memories, as well as first hand experience of working on farms while in college at Standford, gave Steinbeck the experience to form realistic characters in his books. In, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck gives life, depth and strong character to Lennie Small, George Milton, Slim, Candy, Crooks, Carlson, Curley and Curley's wife. It took little prompting to get the students to describe the characters. Steinbeck crafted each one with a strong identity and purpose.