Potential Material for Interpretive Readings
Dramatic
Material
The Fall of Freddie
the Leaf: A Story of
Life for All Ages
(1982)
Author
Synopsis and/or Mrs. Wallis’ comments
Suggested Areas…if I Have one
Leo Buscaglia
It’s so short that you would have
to make only a few edits to get
it down to the appropriate time.
The Lottery (1948)
Shirley Jackson
47 (2006)
Walter Mosely
Short story
This story is a warm, wonderfully wise and strikingly simple story about a
leaf names Freddie. How Freddie and his companion leaves change with
the passing seasons, finally falling to the ground with winter's snow, is an
inspiring allegory illustrating the delicate balance between life and death.
Short story
The Lottery, one of the most terrifying stories written in this century,
created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker.
"Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader
responses.
The story makes people nervous because they perceive that the
community in which the lottery was held is really not all too different
from their own. I think Jackson drives home the point that we, too, live in
a society rife with superstition and ignorance -- a culture in which ancient
traditions are unquestioningly accepted and virtually anyone can
suddenly find themselves chosen as a sacrificial offering to an unseen
god. When readers see them
Number 47, a fourteen-year-old slave boy growing up underthe watchful
eye of a brutal master in 1832, meets the mysterious TallJohn, who
introduces him to a magical science and also teaches him themeaning of
freedom.
Slaves often didn't have real names, but were called by their assigned
numbers. A slight boy of 14, Forty-seven is sent to live in the slave
quarters and to work in the cotton fields after having lived under the
protection of another slave since he was orphaned at birth. Forty-seven
meets and becomes friends with a young runaway slave, Tall John, whose
constant refrain to the teen is neither master nor nigger be. Tall John
explains that he came from another world in a sun ship hundreds of years
ago to find 47, who is destined to save the world. After the plantation
owner's daughter falls ill, Tall John convinces him that he can find herbs
in the woods to save her. When they take too long to return, a fight
ensues and harsh punishments are meted out. Subsequently, Tall John
and and Forty-seven try to organize an escape to freedom. Mosley
This would be a short story
worth editing.
According to my friend’s 8th
grade son, “the best book he
has ever read.”
Touching Spirit Bear
(2002)
Gathering Blue
(2000)
Ben Mikaelsen
Lois Lowry
brilliantly documents the day-to-day life of slaves. The story is built on
the themes of friendship, loyalty, freedom, and responsibility.
After severely injuring Peter Driscal in an empty parking lot,
troublemaker Cole Matthews is in major trouble. But instead of jail time,
Cole is given an alternative: a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan
island. This program—called Circle Justice—is based on Native American
traditions that provide healing for the criminal mind. To avoid serious jail
time, Cole resolves to go. While there, Cole is mauled by a mysterious
white bear and left for dead. Thoughts of his abusive parents, helpless
Peter, and his violent anger cause him to examine the root of his troubled
ways.
Lois Lowry's magnificent novel of the distant future, The Giver, is set in a
highly technical and emotionally repressed society. This eagerly awaited
companion volume, by contrast, takes place in a village with only the
most rudimentary technology, where anger, greed, envy, and casual
cruelty make ordinary people's lives short and brutish. This society, like
the one portrayed in The Giver, is controlled by merciless authorities with
their own complex agendas and secrets. And at the center of both stories
there is a young person who is given the responsibility of preserving the
memory of the culture--and who finds the vision to transform it.
Kira, newly orphaned and lame from birth, is taken from the turmoil of
the village to live in the grand Council Edifice because of her skill at
embroidery. There she is given the task of restoring the historical pictures
sewn on the robe worn at the annual Ruin Song Gathering, a solemn daylong performance of the story of their world's past. Down the hall lives
Thomas the Carver, a young boy who works on the intricate symbols
carved on the Singer's staff, and a tiny girl who is being trained as the
next Singer. Over the three artists hovers the menace of authority,
seemingly kind but suffocating to their creativity, and the dark secret at
the heart of the Ruin Song.
With the help of a cheerful waif called Matt and his little dog, Kira at last
finds the way to the plant that will allow her to create the missing color-blue--and, symbolically, to find the courage to shape the future by
Cole is an abused boy and this
story had me crying the entire
flight from Boston to Seattle.
I would choose one of two
areas: 1) the beating of Peter
Driscal and the Circle of Justice
after or 2) the near death and
redemption of Cole and then
healing with Peter Driscal.
The Invention of
Hugo Cabret (2007)
Brian Selznick
Wonderstruck
Brian Selznick
following her art wherever it may lead. With astonishing originality,
Lowry has again created a vivid and unforgettable setting for this thrilling
story that raises profound questions about the mystery of art, the
importance of memory, and the centrality of love.
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris
train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But
when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a
bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover
life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing,
a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden
message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate,
tender, and spellbinding mystery.
From Brian Selznick, the creator of the Caldecott Medal winner THE
INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, comes another breathtaking tour de
force.
Playing with the form he created in his trailblazing debut novel, The
Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted
territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey.
Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the
father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose
life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in
his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper,
both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are
missing.
Animal Farm (1946)
George Orwell
Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words,
Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry.
How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge
you, and leave you breathless with wonder. Rich, complex, affecting, and
beautiful--with over 460 pages of original artwork--Wonderstruck is a
stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary.
As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this
remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated
animals and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and
equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As readers
witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, they begin
1984 (1948)
George Orwell
James and the Giant
Peach (1961)
Roald Dahl
To Kill a
Mockingbird (1960)
Harper Lee
The Tokyo-Montana
Express (1980)
Richard Brautigan
to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic
organization—and in the most charismatic leaders, the souls of the
cruelest oppressors.
Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the
future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier
than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so
powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can
deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple
generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that
seems only to grow with the passage of time.
After James Henry Trotter's parents are tragically eaten by a rhinoceros,
he goes to live with his two horrible aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Life there
is no fun, until James accidentally drops some magic crystals by the old
peach tree and strange things start to happen. The peach at the top of
the tree begins to grow, and before long it's as big as a house. Inside,
James meets a bunch of oversized friends—Grasshopper, Centipede,
Ladybug, and more. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling
away, and the great adventure begins!
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the
crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an
instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in
1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into
an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes
readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience,
kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over
18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional
story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee
always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is
regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
First published in 1980 (special Targ edition published 1979), The TokyoMontana Express, a collection of one hundred and thirty-one "stations"
inspired by memories of Japan and Montana, January-July 1976, that
seem to form a somewhat autobiographical work, was Brautigan's ninth
published novel. Brautigan, defending the unique form of this novel, said
each section of the novel represented a separate stop along a journey, a
station along a metaporical rail line joining Japan and Montana.
Depending on how these are
put together, they could be
dramatic or humorous.
The Best American
Short Stories 1998
Editor Garrison
Keillor
The Portable
Dorothy Parker
(1944)
Dorothy Parker
The preeminent short fiction series since 1915, The Best American Short
Stories is the only volume that annually offers the finest works chosen by
a distinguished best-selling author.
Any of the Best American Short
Stories books would be a great
place to look for content.
“A Telephone Call” – this could
be changed to texting and I have
edits ready
“Horsie”
Humorous
Material
Stargirl
Author
Synopsis and/or Mrs. Wallis’ comments
Jerry Spinelli
Life Among the
Savages
Shirley Jackson
"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents
were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to
explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High
School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a
ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances
when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of
nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator
Leo Borlock: "She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She
was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf
owl."
Shirley Jackson’s hilariously charming memoir of her family's life in rural
Vermont. Fans of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Cheaper by the Dozen,
and anything Erma Bombeck ever wrote will find much to recognize in
Shirley Jackson's home and neighborhood: children who won't behave,
cars that won't start, furnaces that break down, a pugnacious corner
bully, household help that never stays, and a patient, capable husband
who remains lovingly oblivious to the many thousands of things mothers
and wives accomplish every single day.
Dave Barry is Not
Making this Up
Dave Barry
"Our house," writes Jackson, "is old, noisy, and full. When we moved
into it we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that
when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps
twenty children and easily half a million books." Jackson's literary
talents are in evidence everywhere, as is her trenchant, unsentimental
wit. Yet there is no mistaking the happiness and love in these pages,
which are crowded with the raucous voices of an extraordinary family
living a wonderfully ordinary life.
Dave Barry wouldn't lie--and here are the real life, laugh-out-loud
stories from across America to prove it: a U.S. Supreme Court justice
shares his remedy for preventing gas ("I had not realized that this was a
matter of concern in the highest levels of government"); a newspaper
headline in Ohio announces the combustibility of strawberry Pop-Tarts
("A story that can really help you gain a better understanding of how
you can be killed by breakfast snack food"); a frightening fact that
Try:

The story on the last couple of
pages about bringing home a new
baby is hysterical, starting with
“Did you bring it, did you bring it,
did you bring it?” to “Is that the
best you could get?”

Also, the bit about her son Laurie
going to Kindergarten is very
funny, especially when you
discover the ending.
Try:


“The Old-Timers Game”
“You’ve Gotta Be Kidding”
Raising Demons
Shirley Jackson
The Snake Has All
the Lines
Jean Kerr
The Plague and I
Betty MacDonald
(Seattle author)
snakes have mastered the pipelines leading directly to your toilet--and
they're not shy ("Many women might view this as a fair punishment for
all the billions of times that guys have left the seat up").
Get up-close with Dave as he examines UFO thrillseekers and Elvisworshippers, plays lead guitar with a horrifying rock band that includes
Stephen King, and swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth...so God help you!
Life Among the Savages charmed thousands with its insightful wit and
contrasting warmth. In this sequel, Shirley Jackson continues her
affectionate, hilarious, sophisticated tale of dubious parental
equilibrium in the face of four children, assorted dogs and cats, and the
uncounted heaps of small intrusive possessions which pile up in corners
everywhere.
When Jean Kerr settles down to explain about the ordeal of hotel living
during out-of-town tryouts (the room service was so bad that a
playwright sent a funeral wreath to the kitchen with a note: in memory
of those who have passed away in the last 24 hours). . . or when she
parodies a well-known magazine's Can This Marriage Be Saved?
department in a hilarious ribbing of Lolita, it is cause for dancing in the
streets. The title of this book comes for a remark made by her son one
he returned home from school one day to announce in dispirited tones
that he had been cast as Adam in the school lay about Adam and Eve.
That's wonderful, you have the lead Jean said. Yeah, he answered
glumly, but the snake has all the lines.
Although MacDonald's Þrst and most popular book, The Egg and I, has
remained in print since its original publication, her three other volumes
have been unavailable for decades. The Plague and I recounts
MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author
spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague
was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly
tale of her brush with something deadly. Anybody Can Do Anything is a
high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how “the warmth and loyalty and
laughter of a big family” brightened their weathering of The Great
Depression. In Onions in the Stew, MacDonald is in unbuttonedly
frolicsome form as she describes how, with husband and daughters, she
set to work making a life on a rough-and-tumble island in Puget Sound,
a ferry-ride from Seattle.
Try:


“All New Patients Must First Be
Boiled”
“Oh, Salvadora! Don’t Spit on the
Floora”
Naked
David Sedaris
Squirrel Seeks
Chipmunk
David Sedaris
Metropolitan Life
Fierce Pajamas
An Anthology of
Humor Writing from
The New Yorker
The Prodigal Son
Oh, Brother! And
Other Bible Stories
to Ticket your Soul
Fran Lebowitz
Edited by David
Remnick and Henry
Finder
Mike Thaler
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David
Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its ear, mining
the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique
worldview-a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply
charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young
son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of
Kerouackian wandering is undertaken (of course!) with a quadriplegic
companion; a family gathers for a wedding in the face of imminent
death. Through it all is Sedaris's unmistakable voice, without doubt one
of the freshest in American writing.
Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new
illustrated collection of animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though
the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an
uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.
In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate
about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello
Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA
meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed
lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.
A collection of short stories
Fierce Pajamas is a treasury of laughter from the magazine W. H. Auden
called the “best comic magazine in existence.”
The Heaven and Mirth® series teaches biblical values in a fun and
entertaining way. No more boring Bible stories! You'll want to read
these laughter-filled tales over and over again!
The five stories in The Prodigal Son: Oh, Brother! help your child realize
the importance of forgiveness. Through the stories of the Prodigal Son,
the conversion of Saul, and more, your child will gain a deeper
understanding of how forgiveness models God's love. It is this love that
sets him or her free to love and forgive others.
Try:
 “A Plague of Tics” – About his
rituals and tics in class, I laughed
so hard I cried.
 “Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out” – about his
grandmother, YaYa.
 “Something for Everyone”
Try:
 The Mouse and the Snake
 The Cow and the Turkey
Moses Take Two
Tablets and Call Me
in the Morning: And
Other Bible Stories
to Tickle Your Soul
(Heaven and Mirth)
Adam and the Apple
Turnover: And
Other Bible Stories
to Tickle Your Soul
(Heaven and Mirth)
The Cricket in Times
Square (1961)
Mike Thaler
Mike Thaler
George Selden
Tucker is a streetwise city mouse. He thought he’d seen it all. But he’s
never met a cricket before, which really isn’t surprising, because, along
with his friend Harry Cat, Tucker lives in the very heart of New York
City—the Times Square subway station. Chester Cricket never intended
to leave his Connecticut meadow. He’d be there still if he hadn’t
followed the entrancing aroma of liverwurst right into someone’s picnic
basket. Now, like any tourist in the city, he wants to look around. And he
could not have found two better guides—and friends—than Tucker and
Harry. The trio have many adventures—from taking in the sights and
sounds of Broadway to escaping a smoky fire.
Chester makes a third friend, too. It is a boy, Mario, who rescues
Chester from a dusty corner of the subway station and brings him to live
in the safety of his parents’ newsstand. He hopes at first to keep Chester
as a pet, but Mario soon understands that the cricket is more than that.
Because Chester has a hidden talent and no one—not even Chester
himself—realizes that the little country cricket may just be able to teach
even the toughest New Yorkers a thing or two.
The Cricket in Times Square is a 1961 Newbery Honor Book.
A Wrinkle in Time
(1963)
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles
Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight
snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got
caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a
moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way,
there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell
more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual
book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the
story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and
Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in
high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who
disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the
tesseract problem.
A Wrinkle in Time is the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal.
Family – The Ties
that Bind and Gag
(1988)
The Tokyo-Montana
Express (1980)
Erma Bombeck
I Was a Teenage
Dwarf -- wild
adventures of a
pint-sized Don Juan
(1959)
The Portable
Dorothy Parker
(1944)
Max Shulman
Richard Brautigan
Dorothy Parker
A cherished family reunion sets the stage of Erma Bombeck's
predictably hilarious recollections of raising a family. Her conclusion:
you can't live with them, you can't live without them...or can you...?
First published in 1980 (special Targ edition published 1979), The TokyoMontana Express, a collection of one hundred and thirty-one "stations"
inspired by memories of Japan and Montana, January-July 1976, that
seem to form a somewhat autobiographical work, was Brautigan's ninth
published novel. Brautigan, defending the unique form of this novel,
said each section of the novel represented a separate stop along a
journey, a station along a metaporical rail line joining Japan and
Montana.
Depending on how these are put
together, they could be dramatic or
humorous.
“A Telephone Call” – this could be
changed to texting and I have edits
ready