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Books with Unusual Narrators
Books with Unusual Narrators
Click the image and read about these books that are told in unusual voices. Which do you think is most intriguing? Brainstorm other unusual voices whose stories you might be interested in hearing.
Octopus Brains- PBS Science Clip- Lizbeth, the Giant Pacific Octopus
Shelby Van Pelt Interview and Author Site
Reading Schedule:
Mon, 1/6: 1-11 by Tuesday (homework)
by Friday, 1/10: 12-113
by Thurs, 1/16: 114-233
by Thurs, 1/23: 233-end
Thematic Topics: Click the arrow ----->
Thematic Topics: Click the arrow ----->
Make journal notes of moments in the reading that illustrate thematic ideas. Be prepared to discuss on Seminar days.
Make journal notes of moments in the reading that illustrate thematic ideas. Be prepared to discuss on Seminar days.
Friendship, Companionship, Connection, and Loneliness
The Complexity of Nature, Our Relationships with the Natural World
Responsibility and Blame
Aging & Life Changes
Loss/Grief and its affects/consequences
Role of Community
Family Ties- Biological and Found
Taking Chances/Risks
Passage Analysis
Passage Analysis
On pages 10-11, we watch Tova's nightly routine at the end of her shift at the aquarium. Read the passage and analyze how Van Pelt creates a connection between Tova, the setting, and developing themes in the novel. What images and language specifically do this? Describe the tone of the passage. What emotional quality does it evoke? How?
Discuss with your groups, and add to your charts.
In your response be sure to include direct evidence (quotes) and commentary on HOW that evidence supports your analysis.
Writing of Zagajewski’s 1991 collection, Canvas, poet and reviewer Robert Pinsky commented that the poems are “about the presence of the past in ordinary life: history not as chronicle of the dead, or an anima to be illuminated by some doctrine, but as an immense, sometimes subtle force inhering in what people see and feel every day—and in the ways we see and feel.”
"Impossible Friendships"
For example, with someone who no longer is,
who exists only in yellowed letters.
Or long walks beside a stream,
whose depths hold hidden
porcelain cups—and the talks about philosophy
with a timid student or the postman.
A passerby with proud eyes
whom you'll never know.
Friendship with this world, ever more perfect
(if not for the salty smell of blood).
The old man sipping coffee
in St.-Lazare, who reminds you of someone.
Faces flashing by
in local trains—
the happy faces of travelers headed perhaps
for a splendid ball, or a beheading.
And friendship with yourself
—since after all you don't know who you are.
by Adam Zagajewski
Translated by Clare Cavanagh
from Eternal Enemies, 2008
🐙Stanzas for Marcellus🐙
Re-read the poem and listen for the cadence and style of the language. Then, write a new couplet for "Impossible Friendships" inspired by the novel- for any of the characters (human or otherwise), places, states of being... be creative.
Seminar 1 Discussion Focus Topics:
1. We meet all 3 speaking characters in this first 3rd of the novel. Each of them has something missing, a gap in their lives. What are these gaps and how do they reveal the characters to us?
2. Talk about some of the 'thematic moments' you noticed in these pages. How does Van Pelt weave the big ideas of the book into these plot points?
Poetry Connection
Poetry Connection
Reverse Engineering Poetry
“Some poets are fixed stars; others are flashing meteors.”
Focus Elements:
Villanelle (form)
Apostrophe (rhetorical device)
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
Read the poem aloud at least twice and LISTEN to the structure. Read it in different ways- 1 person, a round robin, all together, assign certain lines… be creative!
The poem is a villanelle. What ARE the rules of the villanelle form? Develop them based on what you see and hear in the poem.
Compare "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" to "The House on the Hill" and "One Art". Do your rules around the structure of a villanelle hold? Is there anything you need to change?
After you have your final list of villanelle form rules, discuss what the poems are about. Make notes and connections to Remarkably Bright Creatures in your journals.
Poetry Connection: Sonnet
"Hinged Double Sonnet for the Luna Moths"
From Oblivio Gate by Sean Nevin
Color Imagery & Structure
Color Saturation Poems
Color Saturation Poems
Using as many of the words on your paint chips as possible, write a poem that is saturated in your color. You may use "Hinged Double Sonnet for the Luna Moths" as a guide if you like.
Use the boxed Magnetic Poetry sets OR the online sets linked here if you need more help/inspiration with your poems. You may also use a "found poem" technique using a book.
Seminar 2 Discussion Focus Topics:
1. What changes are happening in our characters? What has contributed to these changes? How do you think the evolution in character connects to theme?
2. Choose 2 themes to blend together and discuss how they work as a pair with examples from the reading.
3. Talk about some of the 'thematic moments' you noticed in these pages. How does Van Pelt weave the big ideas of the book into these plot points?
Big Words
Big Words
Look at your vocabulary words thus far- you should have 12 plus 2 trading cards. Create a journal page with the focus of at least one of the vocab words with which you can make a connection to Remarkably Bright Creatures.
Include the word, definition, at least 1 quote from the novel, characters or themes, images/color/decoration.
Seminar 3 Discussion Focus Topics:
1. All 3 voices - Tova, Marcellus, Cameron- find resolutions in the final section of the book. Consider what they were "missing" at the beginning. To what extent have the filled those holes?
2. Talk about some of the 'thematic moments' you noticed in these pages. How does Van Pelt weave the big ideas of the book into these plot points?
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