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IMG_2383.jpgThe first 20 pages of The Astonishing Color of After, by Emily X.R. Pan, plus some of Ms. Brown's running commentary.
Astonishing Color p1-20 plus commentary - 10:7:18, 10.20 PM.mp3Ms. Brown's thought log for pages 1-20
Leigh has problems. The huge and obvious problem is that her mother has killed herself. Leigh has a lot of grief to deal with. But she's also feeling guilty because at the exact moment her mom was dying, Leigh was kissing her best friend/crush, Axel. Both of them are artists, and they are always talking in colors. That's interesting. Leigh also has a friend named Caro who has blue hair. Since she has blue hair, I kind of assume she's an artist, too. Leigh's dad seems a little distant. I don't know if that's just grief, or if he's always kind of distant with her. From these pages, I also know that Leigh has seen a Dr. who might be a psychiatrist. This lets me guess that maybe Leigh has struggled with depression like her mother did. Also, Leigh believes her mother has become a bird. I don't know whether this is a real ghost bird (in the story) or whether Leigh is hallucinating because she's really sad and can't sleep. In any event, her dad and Caro don't believe her, and she's not going to contact Axel because of the kissing issue. I really like the way this author writes. Her sentences are like poetry. And she deals with grief in a really realistic way. This book is gorgeous.
Audio for pages 21-29
Astonishing Color p21-29 .mp3This is such a good book. Every time the bird (ghost) shows up and the air temperature gets super cold, I feel a shiver. I love that the bird's gifts are REAL and they remain in daylight. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S IN THE BOX. I sense a real distance between Leigh and her father, which makes me sad. I hope their conversation about the box goes well, but I predict that it won't, based on their relationship so far.
Chapter 9: Leigh gets the box and shows it to Dad. We get really good background on Leigh's dad in this chapter.
Chapter 10: We get some more background on Leigh's mother and some indication of what the argument between Leigh's mom and Leigh's grandparents might have been.
Chapter 11: READ THIS CHAPTER IT'S SO AWESOME! This ghost is so cool!
Chapter 12: They're headed to Taipei! My hometown! I love this part of the book! The descriptions of Taipei are so great.
In this chapter, we're introduced to the idea of Ghost Festival. You should read more about that here. It's basically a month of Halloween and ghosts are believed to be able to move around in the human world quite freely during this time.
In this chapter, we're also introduced to Axel's random emails. This becomes super awesome later in the book, so pay attention to this element.
Chapters 13-15: We arrive in Taipei, meet Leigh's grandparents, and they almost immediately get into a fight with Leigh's dad. Dad takes off to Hong Kong, leaving Leigh alone with her grandparents.
Chapter 16 Audio
By the way, 最難風雨故人來 (the words on the box of incense) mean "in times of greatest hardship an old friend comes" but 故人 can mean "old friend" or "the deceased (the dead)" -- so this is the perfect saying to lead us into this next part of our ghost story!
Astonishing Color Ch 16 - 10:15:18, 7.21 PM.mp3Chapter 17-18: Leigh burns the incense and is able to see the memories of her father from when Leigh was much younger. You should definitely read pages 71 to 75 on your own.
Chapter 19: Leigh thinks about the question of "fault" and "if only."
Chapter 20: We learn the word hunxie -- literally "mixed blood" and how this word relates to Leigh. On page 81, we are introduced to Feng, an important new character.
I'm not yet really 1/4 of the way through the book yet, but here's my thought log for now.
The main characters are Leigh, her best friend (Axel), her dad, her grandmother (Waipo), and Feng.
Leigh's mother has committed suicide. Leigh is devastated. She believes her mother has transformed into a bird. We've received some ghostly messages from this bird, and every time the bird is around, the temperature drops or there is an unexpected storm.
Incidentally, the word "Feng" in Chinese means "Phoenix."
The story started out somewhere in America. Most of the story from here on out takes place in my favorite city, Taipei. There are tons of flashbacks though, and most of these take place in America.
We know that Leigh is biracial. Her mother was Taiwanese/Chinese (ask me if you're confused, it's a little complicated) and her dad is a white American who is a Sinologist (a scholar of Chinese things; he speaks and reads Chinese well).
Leigh and her Waipo (grandmother) are getting along, even though Waipo doesn't speak English and Leigh really doesn't speak much Chinese.
IMG_2469.jpgChapter 21, 22, and 23.
Astonishing Color Ch 21 to Ch 24 - 10:16:18, 9.34 PM.mp3We get some information about Axel Moreno (I say "Moreno" really badly in this recording, and I don't know why I don't just say it the Texan way -- "More-Ray-No." Shrug. Too late now.) Anyhow, we get to hang out with him and Leigh on her 14th birthday -- a flashback. We also start to see Leigh's mother's illness.
Ch. 24: We are introduced to Leanne and Caro in this chapter, and we see Leigh's mom being very strange.
Ch. 25: We hang out in Taipei with Leigh, Waipo, and Feng. When Leigh tries to take a photo of them all together, the red bird she thinks is her mother appears.
Ch. 26-27: Leigh at Waipo's house going a little crazy. She pulls out the box of mystery incense that we learned about in chapter 16.
Read Ch. 28, 29, and 30 by yourself. That's page to 115-121.
Ch. 31: We get to know Leigh's friend Caro a little better.
Read Ch. 32 on your own. It's only one page.
I'll read Ch. 33 Thursday, but here is a video of a temple in Taipei. Here is a picture and an article about bwabwei (keep in mind that the article uses the Mandarin word, but Leigh uses the Taiwanese word).
Chapter summaries:
- 34 -- Tea time with Leigh, Waipo (Popo) and Feng. Leigh doesn't really know anything about tea, but Feng does. Leigh is defensive because she's not familiar with something she kind of feels like she should be.
- 35 -- Trip to the Buddhist temple where Leigh learns about the belief that someone will be reborn within 49 days. Leigh is feeling really out of place now. She says, "I wish I felt more Taiwanese. I wish I knew these traditions, knew what to do" (Pan 144).
- 36 -- Leigh starts making a net out of her t-shirts.
- 37 --Winter, Freshman Year -- Leigh flashing back to when she and Caro are digging through her mom's old boxes.
- 38 -- Transition page
- 39 -- Waipo and Waigong's story (SO COOL!)
- 40 -- Leigh processes things
- 41 -- Leigh's cutting up shirts
- 42 -- email from Axel
- 43 -- Winter Freshman Year -- Digging through Mom's boxes again -- here we see THE MYSTERY PHOTO (Pan 174).
- 44 -- Leigh is losing her mind... is it sleep deprivation, grief, magic, ghost realm stuff? What is going on here?
- 45 -- Chilling with grandpa
- 46 -- Feng is at the apartment. Listening to music. The song they're probably listening to is here. (Bonus: This song is super famous. Once, I was at Fuzzy's Tacos here in Denton with four or five people, and me and my friend (who incidentally has red hair and super white skin) burst into singing this song at the top of our lungs. The looks on our other friends' faces was PRICELESS.)
- 47 -- More emails from Axel
- 48 -- Winter Freshman Year -- Leigh gets busted for wearing her mother's jewelry (Pan 192). We hang out more with Caro, get to see Leigh's dad some (Pan 196). Her dad is a jerk about her drawing.
- 49 -- Leigh is lost in memories and anxious about her mom "leaving" (being reborn) in 7 days.
- 50 -- Leigh as a child with her parents.
- 51 -- Spooky ghost stuff.
- 52 -- Memories of Leigh's mom looking "sunken, haunted. like she hadn't slept or seen the sun in days. Like someone had wrung the color out of her complexion" (Pan 211). Dad's crummy reaction to everything (Pan 213).
- 53 -- Memories of her mom, the pianist.
- 54 -- Waipo, Feng, and Leigh visit a church...
- 55 -- ... then a night market. But not just ANY night market (there are hundreds in Taipei). They go to THE ONE, THE ONLY, Shilin Night Market.
- 56 -- Leigh thinks about her mother as a bird.
Ms. Brown's thought log for the first half of the book:
Ms. Brown's thought log for the first half of the book:
Chapter 57 -- Leigh's dad sends her to camp. Axel comes to rescue her from the awful camp.
Chapter 59 -- They get home and Leigh figures out that the reason her dad sent her away was so that her mom could go through electroshock therapy.
Chapter 61 -- Leigh sees through the magic incense a conversation her parents had about her (251).
Chapter 65/66 -- Incense memories/the box and net are all burnt up.
Chapter 67 -- Emails from Dad and Axel.
Audio for Chapters 68 - 76 (pages 275 - 321)
Audio for Chapters 68 - 76 (pages 275 - 321)
Summaries for Chapters 68 - 76 (pages 275 - 321)
Summaries for Chapters 68 - 76 (pages 275 - 321)
Read Chapters 70 and 76 carefully.
Read Chapters 70 and 76 carefully.
68 -- Leigh interacting with her mom before she died.
69 -- Nightmares
70 -- Waipo and Leigh go to find Feng (who hasn't been back since Leigh yelled at her a while ago). We learn about ghost month offerings (288), and get to see more of Taipei (the subway that runs in four languages and a market selling pig's blood cake). Please note that FENG NEVER EATS (289) and GHOSTS NEVER EAT EITHER :)
70 -- Waipo and Leigh go to find Feng (who hasn't been back since Leigh yelled at her a while ago). We learn about ghost month offerings (288), and get to see more of Taipei (the subway that runs in four languages and a market selling pig's blood cake). Please note that FENG NEVER EATS (289) and GHOSTS NEVER EAT EITHER :)
"Yes. I had a sister." SAID FENG ON PAGE 290. I'm convinced Feng is Leigh's (ghost) aunt.
"Yes. I had a sister." SAID FENG ON PAGE 290. I'm convinced Feng is Leigh's (ghost) aunt.
We mention Emily Dickinson again on 291.
We mention Emily Dickinson again on 291.
"They [ghosts] drift back into this world... and suddenly they hear every thought, speak every language, understand things they didn't when they were alive" (292). -- FENG IS TOTALLY A GHOST.
"They [ghosts] drift back into this world... and suddenly they hear every thought, speak every language, understand things they didn't when they were alive" (292). -- FENG IS TOTALLY A GHOST.
72 -- Fall Sophomore Year -- Art teacher wants Leigh to submit a portfolio to a prestigious art gallery in Berlin.
74 -- Flashback -- Leigh's mom finds out her sister in Taiwan has suddenly died. We find out that Leigh's Waigong believes that Dory (Leigh's mom) MUST marry a Chinese.
76 -- Flashback -- Leigh's dad bought her mom a cat to try to make her happy. Pages 320-321 we discuss depression and treatments and how Leigh has been hiding the burden of her mother's illness even from her best friend.
76 -- Flashback -- Leigh's dad bought her mom a cat to try to make her happy. Pages 320-321 we discuss depression and treatments and how Leigh has been hiding the burden of her mother's illness even from her best friend.
Your third thought log is due on NOVEMBER 13th.
Your third thought log is due on NOVEMBER 13th.
- Your third thought log should include a discussion of how the characters are changing, how the conflict is evolving, any new details about setting, discussion questions, predictions, summaries of the chapters and so on. Why are the characters acting the way they do? How is the setting affecting people's choices? How has the conflict changed?
- It should also include 2 or more signposts. (What's a signpost? Look here.)
- You should be looking for theme. What are the big ideas the author is exploring in the book? Use quotes from the text to prove that the book is talking about that.
Here is a teacher model for the third thought log over the book Black and White that the freshmen graded in class -- Page 1 / Page 2 . This would get about an 82 because the literary elements section is too brief. The two signposts are good, and the discussion of theme is OK, not great.
Summaries of Ch. 77 to Ch. 85 (322 - 367)
Ch 77 -- Day 46 after her mother's death. Remember that Leigh thinks she has to figure out what her mother wanted her to remember by day 49, before her mother the bird gets reborn in a totally new body. Leigh is on her way to a town called Jiufen. On page 324-325, the new character, Fred, tells Leigh that "during Ghost Month, you will run into ghosts" so you should "always knock before going into" rooms at hotels so that you scare them off. Isn't that a cool superstition?
Ch 78 -- Leigh and her grandmother (Waipo) meet Fred at the teahouse (this teahouse is very real and very famous. I have been there). READ PAGES 329-330 -- "When I married the ghost of Chen Jingling." (Pan 330) *What is happening here? A custom called "Ghost Marriage."* THINK: Who sent the note with the Emily Dickinson poem on it?
Ch 79 -- Fred sends the ghost poem back to the ghosts. Read p. 334 to 335.
Ch 80 -- Day 47. Leigh returns to Taipei from Jiufen and is talking with Feng.
Ch 80 -- Day 47. Leigh returns to Taipei from Jiufen and is talking with Feng.
WORDS OF THE WISER (Pan 339) "'Maybe what she really needs,' Feng says, 'is just to remember. And to be remembered.'"
WORDS OF THE WISER (Pan 339) "'Maybe what she really needs,' Feng says, 'is just to remember. And to be remembered.'"
Ch 81 -- Sophomore year flashbacks
Ch 82 -- Leigh is kind of going crazy from sleep depravation
Ch 83 -- INCENSE CHAPTER -- MEMORIES OF Leigh's mom and dad, grandparents, racism, being stubborn, family. Lots of good stuff here (Pan 353 - 358).
Ch 83 -- INCENSE CHAPTER -- MEMORIES OF Leigh's mom and dad, grandparents, racism, being stubborn, family. Lots of good stuff here (Pan 353 - 358).
"Believing is a type of magic. It can make something true" (Pan 358).
"Believing is a type of magic. It can make something true" (Pan 358).
Ch 84 -- Transition half-page
Ch 85 -- Sophomore year
Audio for Chapters 86 to 96 (pages 368 to 417)
Audio for Chapters 86 to 96 (pages 368 to 417)
Summaries for Chs. 86 to 96 (368 - 417)
Chapter 86 -- Leigh scares her dad half to death demanding that he return to Taipei NOW.
Chapter 87 -- Leigh gets mad at Axel
Chapter 88 -- We find out why...
Chapter 89 -- Sleep?
Chapter 90 -- Bad dreams... Crazytown. The magical/ghost world and Leigh's real world are colliding.
Chapter 91 -- Feng sits with Leigh in the park. On page 388, Feng is explaining again to Leigh that maybe she doesn't actually have a mystery to solve. Maybe her mother/the bird simply wanted Leigh to come to Taiwan, see where she grew up, see what her life was like before, and remember. In memories, the dead live.
On 389, Feng (the ghost of Leigh's mom) tells Leigh that the bird (Leigh's mom) told her to "go home."
Chapter 92 -- Sophomore year...
Chapter 93 -- Leigh's reality is starting to crack up. She's sleep deprived, the ghost world is messing with the real world. Things are coming to a head. It's one day before Leigh believes her mom will be reincarnated and will no longer be her mom in any meaningful sense. Leigh's dad arrives.
Chapter 94 -- Incense memories... on page 407, we see that Leigh's dad is actually proud of her in a way she was never aware of before. On 411, we see Leigh's mother's deep wound: "'They blame me. They think if I never come to America, if I never meet you, Jingling would be alive. Why everything always my fault? Maybe I blame them. They ate lunch with her the day she died. They should see how sick she was. Why everything my fault? Why not their fault? They will never meet Leigh. They will never hurt her like they hurt me'" (Pan 411). [Jingling is her dead sister's name. I believe that the character we know as Feng is Jingling's ghost.]
Chapter 95 -- "Goodbye..."
Chapter 96 -- Memory of Axel... This is interesting because it leads us back to Ch. 1. So now the book has made a circle of sorts. The book started just after Leigh and Axel kissed, and here we are, back at that kiss.
Audio for Chapters 97 to 108 (418 - 462)
Audio for Chapters 97 to 108 (418 - 462)
Summaries for Chapters 97 to 108 (418 - 462)
Chapter 97 -- Remembering the good times with Mom
Chapter 98 -- Leigh had a fever... On page 422, Leigh calls out her dad for leaving her when he was feeling overwhelmed. They talk about how much Leigh's mom blamed herself for Jingling's death. Leigh really gets to let her dad know that he hurt her... but she also makes clear to him that he can't blame himself for her mom's suicide. Basically, Leigh and her dad make up.
Chapter 99 -- transition... and 100 -- FENG IS A GHOST... Also, Dad explains the Chinese writing on the ghost incense box.
Chapter 101 -- "I remember it all" (Pan 433).
Chapter 102 -- Guess who lives at "Feng's" supposed address? Fred. The husband of the ghost of Jingling. But Feng is nowhere to be found.
Read page 436 from "The next morning we hire a car..."
"The wind rises up to claim the gray.
"And then it's gone. We're left with the colors of after. The colors of now" (Pan 436).
Chapter 103 -- 438 Leigh re-purposes the mother-sized hole inside her. It will always be there. "But maybe it doesn't have to be a deep, dark pit..." Instead, maybe it can be "a vessel. Something to hold memories and colors" (Pan 438).
Chapter 103 -- 438 Leigh re-purposes the mother-sized hole inside her. It will always be there. "But maybe it doesn't have to be a deep, dark pit..." Instead, maybe it can be "a vessel. Something to hold memories and colors" (Pan 438).
Chapter 104 -- Back in America. Page 443 and 444 -- Axel is unaware that he sent any emails... THE GHOST DID IT!!! (Evidence: "photograph of a bird's shadow" p. 446)!
Chapter 105 -- Boring...
Chapter 106 -- Acceptance letter
Chapter 107 -- Flight to Berlin
Chapter 108 -- Artist's Statement on 462. "The purpose of memory... is to remind us how to live" (Pan 462). [108 is a significant number in Chinese culture. The number of chapters in this story is NOT random.]
Your final thought log:
Your final thought log:
- How did the characters change over the course of the book?
- Talk about setting. In this book, we made a circle, from America, to Taiwan, deep into ghost country, then back to America. How does that circle help develop the theme of the novel?
- How was the main conflict resolved?
- What deeper meaning has Leigh extracted from her experience?
- Did you read the love story subplot with Axel, or did you skip it and why?
- Discussion questions
2x Signposts
A thematic statement and some textual evidence to back that up.
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