Authors and Novels

Literature Test

Introduction

Here is an overview of the novels that will be on the test next week. Our virtual tour will take us to where these authors reside.

Pay attention to historical content in each novel.

Think of the pros and cons of the main character in each novel.

Does the author’s life have great, little, or no impact to their novel?

George Orwell

Photo taken from: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00782/george-orwell-220_782943f.jpg

• George Orwell is the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair

• Born in India and grew up in England, where he attended Eton College

• Blair joined the Indian Imperial Police. However, he found he rather liked the Indians and wanted to write.

• Blair spent several years trying to make a living off of his writing.

• He married and would later adopt a son Richard Horatio.

• During the Spanish war, which both he and his wife wanted to fight for the Spanish Blair wrote Animal Farm.

• 1949 Blair was admitted for tuberculosis and married again

• died suddenly in London on 21 January 1950 at the age of forty-six

http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/

Animal Farm

Image Taken from: http://www.trenchperspective.com/2009/09/01/animal-farm-george-orwell/

• This story is a Satire on the Russian Stalin

• At the time when Blair wanted to publish Animal Farm publishers would not touch it because of its view on Stalin.

• What is comical about the story?

• Who was Stalin? How is he portrayed in the story?

Lois Lowry

Photo taken from: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/images/lois_lowry.jpg

• Born in Hawaii, grew up traveling all over the world and now lives in Cambridge Massachusetts.

• Lowry’s father was a Army dentist.

• As a middle child Lowry spent much of her time alone to read and delve into her imagination.

• Married young to a Naval officer and continued the traveling life.

• Lowry lost her second husband and her son.

http://www.loislowry.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=196

The Giver

Image taken from: http://literarytreats.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/review-the-giver-the-gift-edition-lois-lowry-illustrated-by-bagram-ibatoulline/

This is the first of a quartet series.For those who have read any of the other stories in the quartet talk about how they are tied together.

What is practical about how the jobs are handed out?

Why is the scene where the father is killing the “weaker” twin unnerving?

Are the people truly isolated from the rest of the world?How do the people inside view the outsiders?

What is disturbing about the morning ritual of sharing dreams?

Anne Frank

Photo taken from: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10/06/article-1070129-0005730B00000258-347_233x392.jpg

• Anne was born in Germany 1929 to Jewish parents, making her Jewish also.

• Several years later the Franks moved to Amsterdam hoping for safety from Hitler.

• The situation becomes worse and the Franks go into hiding with four other people.

• On Anne’s thirteenth birthday she receives a dairy.

• 1944 they have been arrested.

• 1945 Anne dies of typhus shortly after her sister at the concentration camp Bergen-Belson.

http://www.annefrank.org/

The Diary of a Young Girl

Image taken from:http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/04/29/anne-franks-full-diary-on-display/

During her time hiding from the Nazi’s Anne wrote in her dairy.

Why does the dairy still hold importance today?

How and where did Anne and the eight others hide.

Harper Lee

Image taken from: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2pMtfs2__ko/UX0IUdxjWwI/AAAAAAAAAlo/QySqFV6ImgA/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-28+at+12.14.35.png

• Born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama Lee does still live there when not in New York.

• Her father was a lawyer for the state legislature.

• At the age of five the Scottsboro case happened and left a deep impression on Lee.

• Lee has only written one novel throughout her life.

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/harper-lee/

To Kill A Mockingbird

Image taken from: http://chamberfour.com/2010/08/30/i-loved-this-book-when-part-12-to-kill-a-mockingbird-by-harper-lee/

• The story takes place within a small town in the Deep South of America.

• Why is the setting of the story significant?

• The trial in the story is based on the Scottsboro case that happened when Lee was five.

• Is there anything you can remember from when you were five?

Wilson Rawls

Image taken from: http://www.k12tlc.net/content/tdp/birthday/rawls.gif

• Rawls grew up on a poor small farm with his family

• At age 16 he left his home and traveled around getting jobs where he could

• Each year he would go back home to help his family and deposit his stories

• A few weeks before his marriage to Sophie Styczinski Rawls burned all the stories he had written.

• After the marriage Rawls found his wife to be supportive and an editor

• About a year later Rawls had published his first novel, Where The Red Fern Grows.

http://www.ifpl.org/index.asp?p=rawls/bio

Where The Red Fern Grows

Image taken from: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/05/30/top-100-childrens-novels-34-where-the-red-fern-grows-by-wilson-rawls/

• The story is based on Rawls childhood growing up in Oklahoma.

• Rawls wrote the novel in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

http://www.ifpl.org/index.asp?p=rawls/bio

• Discuss the scenes that deal with death with your groups.