Embedded Files
The Outsiders
The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton
Published 1967
Quarter 1:
No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.
Guiding Question: How and when do adolescents become socially responsible adults?
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
by Phillip Hoose
Published 2015
Quarter 2:
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, 15-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: The boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance.
Guiding Questions:
How were the actions of the Churchill Club courageous?
Can violence ever be justified?
How does the occupation, the boys' resistance work, and their time in prison affect the Churchill Club members mentally and emotionally?
Code Talker
Code Talker
by Joseph Bruchac
Published 2005
Quarter 3:
Although the mission school bans all that is Navajo, Ned secretly clings to his native language and culture. Proudly joining the U.S. Marines in 1943, he becomes a top-secret Navajo Code Talker. During bloody battles for Japanese islands, Ned and his brave band of code-talking brothers save thousands of lives using Navajo encryption the enemy never cracks.
Guiding Questions:
Why would Native Americans (specifically Navajos) volunteer to fight for the United States in WWII after the mistreatment and abuse they endured by that very same government only a short time before?
What are the economic, social, geographic, and political reason Navajos fought in WWII?
How did the boarding school experience give Native peoples a fundamental component to their tribal identity in the 20th century?
Long Way Down
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
Published 2017
Quarter 4:
Will’s older brother, Shawn, has been shot. Dead. Will feels a sadness so great, he can’t explain it. But in his neighborhood, there are THE RULES:
No. 1: Crying. Don’t. No matter what.
No. 2: Snitching. Don’t. No matter what.
No. 3: Revenge. Do. No matter what.
But bullets miss. You can get the wrong guy. And there’s always someone else who knows to follow the rules....
Guiding Questions:
How does a person's community influence their choices?
Why is it difficult to break cycles of violence?
How is toxic masculinity harmful to individuals and society?
Why is the ability to show emotional vulnerability an asset and not a weakness?
What are the limitations and possibilites of revenge?
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Published 1951
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family". But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
**Honors Classes Only**
The House of the Scorpion
The House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
Published 2002
Matt is a clone of El Patrón, a powerful drug lord of the land of Opium, which is located between the United States and Mexico. For six years, he has lived in a tiny cottage in the poppy fields with Celia, a kind and deeply religious servant woman who is charged with his care and safety. He knows little about his existence until he is discovered by a group of children playing in the fields and wonders why he isn't like them. Though Matt has been spared the fate of most clones, who have their intelligence destroyed at birth, the evil inhabitants of El Patrón's empire consider him a "beast" and an "eejit".
When El Patrón dies at the age of 146, 14-year-old Matt escapes Opium with the help of Celia and Tam Lin, his devoted bodyguard who wants to right his own wrongs. After a near misadventure in his escape, Matt makes his way back home and begins to rid the country of its evils.
**Honors Classes Only**
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