Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 1 Book Title: Tuesdays with Morrie

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic

Plot Summary:

Tuesdays with Morrie is the final lesson between a college

professor, Morrie, and one of his long lost students and the author

of the book, Mitch Albom. After seeing his professor in an interview

on the show "Nightline," the author is reminded of a promise he

made sixteen years ago to keep in touch with him.

Literary Merit:

Illustrates for students how literature can help the reader deal with

real-life issues.

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:

Mature emotional themes surrounding Morrie’s death.

(www.commonsensemedia.org)

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in

Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often

deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned

about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel

will be taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the

novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the

teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work,

the student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful

classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with

alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will

miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole

class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class

novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration

Learning Goals:

1. Understanding the role Morrie plays in helping Mitch define who he is.

2. Recognize aphorisms and the manner in which Albom uses them throughout the text.

3. Analyze how, according to Morrie, the individual has the ability to shape society.

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate autobiography / memoir of approx. 150-200

pages Represents an exchange of life lessons.

Address the following thematic ideas:

Friendship The Bonds between us Relationship

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 2 Book Title: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Current ISBN: 978-0-06-207348-8

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic English.

Plot Summary:

Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an

island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen.

Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host

accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former

reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of

cyanide. The tension escalates as the survivors realize the killer is not

only among them but is preparing to strike again… and again...

(www.agathachristie.com)

Literary Merit:

Although the book was written for adults, teens can learn a lot about

the mystery genre from this master. (www.commonsensemedia.org)

Also, mysteries get reluctant readers and writers enthusiastic about

reading, thinking, and writing. They contain intriguing characters and

hold a student's interest with their suspenseful and dynamic plots.

Mysteries are a wonderful vehicle for teaching critical thinking and

deductive reasoning skills in an exciting and enjoyable way.

(www.scholastic.com)

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:

Violence

Drinking, Drugs, Smoking

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in

Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often

deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned

about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel

will be taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the

novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the

teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work,

the student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful

classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with

alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will

miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole

class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class

novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

1. Based upon reading students will develop and support an opinion as to who or what decides what is just. 2. Determine how mysteries, as well as, And Then There Were None, helps readers to understand the human condition. 3. Identify and explain how structural elements are used in order to create suspense and develop a mystery.

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate mystery (1930’s) of at least 300 pages. Represents a well-written mystery. Address the following thematic ideas: relationships, aging,

popular cultural vs. traditional values

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 5 Book Title: The Glass Castle (Selections)

Current ISBN: 978-0-7432-4754-2

Grade Level and Audience /

Age Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic

English.

Age Appropriateness: 13 years

old and above

THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN

SELECTED EXCERPTS

Plot Summary: The Glass Castle, a New York Times Bestseller, is an autobiography written by Jeannette

Walls about her childhood. After seeing her homeless mother digging through the trash, Jeannette takes

her readers on a flashback to her childhood. It begins with Jeannette at a young age burning herself while

cooking. After landing in the hospital, her father sneaks Jeannette out of the hospital without paying her

medical bills. Much of Jeannette's childhood is reminiscent her family performing "the skedaddle",

consisting of living nowhere more than a few months. After countless moves the family lands in Welch,

West Virginia. Jeannette's grandmother, Erma, lives here. Welch turns out to be worse than any other place

they have lived, due to their grandmother and terrible new house. Erma turns out to be severely abusive

towards Jeanette, and even forces the family to stay in the basement. The town is extremely segregated

and dislikes the newcomers. Girls at Jeannette's school physically and verbally harass her constantly. After

graduating high school Jeannette moves to New York with her sister Lori. Jeannette becomes a successful

writer at The Phoenix despite her dysfunctional family. Jeannette Walls proves to be a great role model that

shows anyone can rise above their childhood.

THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN SELECTED EXCERPTS

Literary Merit:

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and

uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology,

and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea

of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New

York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing--a memoir

permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

Sensitive Subject in the

Text/Possible Objections:

rape, sexual assault, bullying,

physical abuse, drug and

alcohol addiction, and

homelessness

THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN

SELECTED EXCERPTS

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter. If a

parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone or in

person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an

alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the

student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and collaboration.

Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will miss group

instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of

the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful consideration.

Learning Goals:

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.

include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary

be a memoir of at least 200 pages in length

Address the following thematic ideas: resiliency, poverty, and family relationships

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 7 Book Title: Night

Current ISBN: 978-0-374-50001-6 OR 0-03-055462-4

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic English

Plot Summary:

Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply

poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the

Nazi death camps.

Literary Merit:

Pulitzer Price 1986

Literary Elements: Motif, Theme, Foreshadowing

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:

Graphic descriptions of crimes against humanity

Extreme brutality

Temporary Insanity

Emotional Unbalance

(Holt, Rinehart and Winston Teachers Guide)

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in

Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often

deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned

about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel

will be taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the

novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher

will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the

student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful

classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with

alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will

miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole

class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class

novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

1. Recognize the lessons Wiesel provides focusing on and analyzing

the primary lesson.

2. Develop and support an opinion on the importance of

remembering.

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate Holocaust memoir of at least 120 pages. Represents a grade-level true account. Address some of the following thematic ideas: violence,

mortality, family, lies and deceit, freedom and confinement, religion, and identity.

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 8 Book Title: To Kill a Mockingbird

978-0-446-31078-9

Grade Level and Audience / Age

Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic

English

Plot Summary:

The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird is driven forward by the conflict that the main characters experience as their beliefs about justice and morality come into conflict with the mores of the society they inhabit. The novel interweaves two primary plots: Atticus Finch’s effort to follow his conscience and break the unwritten rules of the Jim Crow criminal justice system, and the socialization of Atticus’s children—Scout and Jem—as they negotiate the spoken and unspoken rules of their community. Throughout the novel we observe these three individuals seeking to define their identities both within and in opposition to their society’s moral universe.

Literary Merit:

This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another. Jem and Scout see the heart of their town laid bare -- divided not just between black and white, but also between the prevailing racism and "the handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked White Only." Their father is a hero, willing to stand up against an entire town on behalf of justice. They see the evil born of ignorance and squalor. And they see their father, under whose quiet righteousness and gentle civility lives an undemonstrative love that will always be there. With unmatched power of loving wisdom about the human heart, this book is one that no one should miss.

Sensitive Subject in the

Text/Possible Objections:

Death

Rape

Racism

Drug Use

Mild Profanity

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter. If

a parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone or

in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an

alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the

student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and collaboration.

Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will miss group

instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful consideration.

Learning Goals:

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.

include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary

be historical fiction of at least 200 pages

Address the following thematic ideas: racism, morality, and justice

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 10 Book Title: Fahrenheit 451

Current ISBN: 0-345-34296-8

Grade Level and Audience / Age

Appropriateness:

9th grade Pre-AP and Academic

English

Plot Summary:

Fahrenheit 451 is a classic example of dystopian fiction, written by one of the most acclaimed authors of American science fiction and fantasy. It depicts a near-future America where books are prohibited and the populace is placated with cheap, shallow entertainment. Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a fireman. However, the firemen in Fahrenheit 451 have little in common with the men in yellow suits, driving red trucks that we picture today. Instead, these firemen are in charge of burning books, which are seen as a threat to society because they cause people think too much. Instead, people are expected to relinquish their individuality and be content with vapid radio and television shows. Thinking is dangerous. The title of the novel is the temperature at which paper burns-a fitting title considering so much of the plot revolves around the burning of books.

Literary Merit:

FAHRENHEIT 451 is a classic science fiction novel and a powerful commentary on humankind's urge to suppress what it doesn't understand.

The shadow of the Cold War looms over the plot, but the truths Ray Bradbury unearths are timeless. The novel won the National Book Award

and has been adapted for film, radio, stage, and graphic novel, and it's likely to be read widely for a long time to come.

Sensitive Subject in the

Text/Possible Objections:

Death

Suicide

Violence

Drug Use

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter.

If a parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone

or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an

alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the

student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they

will miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed

instructional time, opting out of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without

careful consideration.

Learning Goals:

Alternative Texts Must:

Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.

include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary

be dystopian literature of at least 200 pages

address the following thematic ideas: conformity, rebellion, censorship, identity, power, youth, fear, and morality