Before Reading:
Know:
Want to Know:
Learned:
Chapter 1: In Class
 With a partner establish your ideas on the following in
writing to be shared:
 "What is your reaction as a reader to what happens to
Susie in Chapter 1? How does what happened make you
think the rest of the novel will be like?”
 What it's like, for a reader, to have a rape/murder victim
(especially a child) telling her own story. How is that
different than if there were a "neutral" narrator? What
effect does it have on the reader? Does it make Susie's
story more personal? Less personal?
 Come up with 3-5 words that describe the tone of the
chapter.
Chapter 1: In Class
 DEBATE:
 First person narrator is the best choice for this kind of
story, given what we know so far;
 Third person/neutral narrator would be the best choice.
 20 minutes to come up with your arguments,
 3-5 minutes to present your arguments,
 2-3 minutes to rebut the other side's arguments.
Chapter 2: In Class
 5 minute write:
 "What do you know so far about Susie's heaven? Make sure to
list at least 5 features that are specific to her heaven."
 Activity: Groups of 3
 You have 25 minutes to illustrate Susie’s heaven, and put quotations
on your construction paper of what Susie’s heaven is like.
 HW: Do you believe that personalized heavens can exist? Why or
why not? How does your opinion influence the way you interact with
and believe what is happening in The Lovely Bones? 5) For
homework: Write at least one page of what your own personalized
heaven would look like.
HW: READ CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3: In Class
 5 minute write:
 Who exactly is Ruth Connors? What is her connection to
Susie?”
Activity:
5 groups:
1) Ruth's family/family life,
2) Ruth's physical description,
3)Ruth's interests,
4)Ruth's social circle/friends (or lack thereof),
5) Ruth's personality traits
HW: Read Chapter 4
Chapter 4: In Class
 5 minute write:
 What token of Susie's does Mr. Harvey keep and then get
rid of? How and where does he dispose of it?
 What kind of symbol is Susie's bracelet? What does it
symbolize when Mr. Harvey is keeping it? What does it
symbolize for Mr. Harvey? What does it symbolize for
Susie? What does it symbolize for the reader? Does its
meaning change once Mr. Harvey disposes of it?
Activity:
Create a drawing of Susie’s bracelet. Put quotations from
the text and your own interpretation of what the bracelet
means around it?
HW: Chapter 5
Chapter 5: In Class
 5 minute write:
 Why is Lindsey so angry when she slams the doors of her
house and her room? What is causing her anger?
 What the reader is supposed to make about Samuel's
Christmas gift to Lindsey and the kiss they share in the
kitchen. What does this show us about Lindsey that other
situations have not? What do we learn about her that we
didn't learn before?
HW: Chapter 6
Chapter 6: In Class
 5 minute write:
 Pick one teenage character in The Lovely Bones. Do you think
this is an adequate portrayal of a teenager? Why or why not?
Discuss:
1)What does society think of teenagers? Are they respected?
Disrespected? By whom?
2) What characteristics make a teenager unique when
compared to other types of characters (young children or older
adults, for example)?
3) What characteristics are common among teenagers that may
not be common with other age groups?
4) Are these characteristics accurately and adequately
represented in the characters in The Lovely Bones?
Chapter 6: In Class Cont…
 Samuel,
 Ruth,
 Susie
 Lindsey.
Come up with features of YOUR assigned characters.
Explain how those features are or are not unique to
teenagers, and explain whether or not you think your
character's depiction in The Lovely Bones is an accurate
portrayal of a teenage character.
HW: READ CHAPTER 7
Chapter 7
 5 minutes write:
 Do you think Buckley is telling the truth when he says that he
has seen Susie's ghost? Why or why not?" Collect their
responses.
 What benefits does an author have by using supernatural
elements (and ghosts in particular) in a text.
 What can these elements do that others cannot? What kinds of
situations can they work best in?
 What challenges are there? What situations would it absolutely
NOT work in?
 How much faith is required, if any at all, for a reader to believe
in the presence of ghosts in a text?
 How important is it for the reader to believe in ghosts in order for
the reader to continue along with the story in a connected,
involved way?
Read chapter 8
Chapter 8
 The objective: examine the role of women and children (who
appear in Mr. Harvey's dreams) as symbols in a text and in
literature in general.
 Questions:
 Brainstorming what the general symbolism is behind women
and children.
 What do they traditionally stand for individually?
 What do they traditionally stand for when together?
 What do we learn about him through their appearance in his
dreams? What other symbols, if any, could have conveyed
similar information to the reader about Mr. Harvey?
Read Chapter 9
Chapter 9 & 10
 5 minute write:
 "What do you think Lindsey's reaction to Mr. Harvey at the end
of Chapter 9 means? What from the text supports your
opinion?"
 Character Sketch:
 Sebold writes describing his physical characteristics), a
paragraph describing his character, and multiple (at least 10)
passages from the text, complete with page numbers, that
provide the reader with some important piece of information
about Mr. Harvey's characters.
Quiz on 5-10
Chapter 12
 “ I had played a hide and seek game of love with my
mother as I grew up, courting her attention and
approval in a way that I had never had to with my
father. I didn’t have to play…anymore…As she stood
in the darkened room and watched my sister and
father, I knew one of things that heaven meant. I had a
choice, and it was not to divide my family in my heart.”
Chapter 13
 Please explain what the following quote means, and it’s
significance to the book.
 …Jack had set his return to work for December 2, right after
Thanksgiving. He wanted to be back in the office by the
anniversary of my disappearance. Functioning and catching
up on work-in as public and distracting a place as he could
think of. And away from my mother, if he was honest with
himself.
 … all her energy was against the house, and all his energy
was inside it.
Chapter 14
 Name/describe at least one time you have seen the
number 5 appear in “Lovely Bones”.
Chapter Questions: FULL SENTENCES
 What is #5’s symbolism?
 Where else has the number 5 appeared?
 Where else does 5 appear in literature, nature, society?
 What are you supposed to associate the number 5 with in
this text?
 How does Lindsey’s jersey number play into this larger
meaning?
Chapter 15
 Nature vs. Nurture
 5 minute write:
 Is Sebold providing information on Mr. Harvey’s childhood simply to
inform the reader, or more to provide some kind of explanation about how
and why he turned out the way he did?
Chapter Discussion:
1) Does it seem like Mr. Harey is influenced most by nature? Nurture?
Both?
2) Could he have turned out differently if he had a different family, or
childhood?
3) Does the background information change your opinion about Mr.
Harvey?
Chapter 16
 5 minute write:
 What do you think the town’s message is to the Salmons during the
memorial? What from the text supports your opinion?
Chapter Response:
1) What is the difference between realization & acceptance?
2) How are they similar/different?
3) When might you think you have accepted something but only realized it?
4)What benefits come with each?
5)What negatives comes with each?
6)Is one inherently better than the other? Circumstance?
Snapshots
 This is a significant shift from the rest of the story.
 Objective: Analyze the structure, and why the
author departs from the traditional narrative
structure.
 5 minute write:
 What is your response to this chapter as a reader?
 Why is “Snapshots” written?
 Be prepared to share!
Chapter 17
 Objective: Analyze why Susie has not moved on from
her heaven.
 5 minute write:
 Do you think Susie is genuinely happy for Lindsey and
Samuel as they begin their new life together? What in the
text supports your opinion? FIND SPECIFIC QUOTES.
 Be prepared to SHARE your response.
Chapter 17:
 Questions: FULL SENTENCE
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
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Why is Susie still in her heaven?
What exactly is her heaven?
Has it changed since she first arrived?
Is she happy there?
Does she spend more time there or more time watching
people on Earth?
 Is she able to leave if and when she wants to?
 How does the author indicate that she is “stuck” there?
 Do you think Susie’s long stay in heaven is negative or
positive? Why do you think this?
Chapter 18
 Objective: Examine how does the author create tension
in the novel?
5 minute write:
-What do you think is the tensest moment in chapter
18? What makes it so tense?
- What devices does the author use to create tension?
(wording, metaphors, quotes, ect).
- Compare the tension in this chapter to chapter 1.
Which is more tense to you? Why?
Chapter 19:
 Objective: To create a character analysis of Abigail
 5minute write:
 Is Abigail justified in leaving the family? Why or Why not?
2 Groups:
1- Analyze Abigail’s character after Susie’s murder (until she leaves
family)
2- Analyze Abigail’s character after she left the Salmon family
behind.
Consider:
What do we know about each phase of her life?
What choices does she make?
What kind of person is she
What are her priorities and values?
Chapter 20
 Objective: Examine the forgiveness (or lack there of, in “Lovely
Bones”.
 5 minute write:
 Write a definition of forgiveness to be shared.
Questions: Full SENTENCES
1) Has Jack forgiven Mr. Harvey?
2) Did Jack forgive Abigail for leaving the family?
3) Has Abigail forgiven the “murderer”?
4) Has Abigail forgiven Jack for refusing to accept Susie’s death?
Chapter 21
 Objective: Ruth and Ray’s visit to the sinkhole brings much of the
tension surrounding Susie’s unsolved murder to a climax as does
Fenerman's visit to Jack and Abigail in the hospital. Analyze closure
and how closure can, or cannot, be reached by various characters in
the text.
 5minute write: Do you think Susie will ever have closure about what
happened to her? Why or why not?
 1) Why did Ray & Ruth go to the sinkhole?
 2) Why is each interested in watching it be filled?
 3) Why does Susie get so frustrated and angry at how close they come to
finding her body?
 4) What kind of closure does the sinkhole offer? What kind of closure, if
any, doe sit actually deliver?
 5) What would closure look like for Mr. Harvey?
Chapter 22
 OBJECTIVE: Analyze tone in Chapter 22 as well as the means by
which an author can create and manipulate the tone of a text
 5 minute write:
 What has been the tone of “The Lovely Bones” prior to Chapter 21?
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Does the tone change at all throughout the chapter?
How much of the tone is dependent on how Chapter 21 concludes?
How much of the tone is dependent on the tone that Sebold has created
for the rest of the text?
Does Chapter 22 have more than 1 tone?
What kind of literary devices does Sebold use to create tone?
Chapter 23
 OBJECTIVE: Examine the apparent happiness of the Salmon
family as they finally begin to move on from Susie’s murder.
 5 minute write:
 By the end of the chapter would you describe the Salmon
family as happy? Why or why not?
1) What does the Salmon’s happiness look like?
2) Is it the same as before Susie’s murder?
3) Will they ever be the same kind of happy as they were before
4)
5)
6)
7)
Susie was killed?
Can they still find happiness?
What will happiness look like for them as a family?
Is is possible to have an unhappy family member
individually, but have a happy family as a whole?
Which character do you believe is the most unhappy?
Support this with specific examples from the text.
Bones
 Objective: Analyze three main aspects of the conclusion of
the novel: Susie’s “Almost. Not quite.” response; Mr.
Harvey’s death; and the arrival of “Little Susie”.
 5 minute write:
 As a reader, do you feel satisfied with the conclusion of The
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

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

Lovely Bones? If so, why or why not?
1) What do you think of Susie’s “Almost. Not quite” response?
2) What does this response tell us about Susie’s character?
3) What does it tell us about what the rest of her life in heaven
will be like?
4) Is Mr. Harvey’s death “justice”? Does it provide closure?/
5) What are we supposed to make of him dyeing of an icicle
“the perfect murder”?
6) What does Lindsay's daughter being called “Little Susie” tell
su about Lindsey’s character?
Concluding Writing

Analyze the character of Susie Salmon by explaining how she must learn to let go of Earth before
she can find her wide, wide Heaven. use examples from the story to explain this idea.

2. How does Jack Salmon remain devoted and loving to both Susie and Abigail?

3. Analyze the theme of grief and how it impacts on all the major characters.

4. Analyze the character of Abigail, emphasizing her strengths and weaknesses.

5. Explain with examples and details from the story how Susie’s Heaven differs from Heaven as we
have always imagined it

.6. Explain the symbolism behind the title of this novel.

7. What is Susie’s greatest desire now that she is dead? Why? How does heaven bless her in
fulfilling her desire and what is the outcome?

8. The best known theme in any literature is the theme of good versus evil. Explain, using
examples from the story, how it fits this novel.

9. One symbol that flows throughout the last few chapters of the book is that of ties, cords, and
chains. Using examples from the novel, explain the significance of this symbol.

10. Discuss how the author’s own background is reflected in this story. How is feminist viewpoint
also reflected here?
Grading
 Pick one of the writing prompts from previous slide.
 You will be graded according to the PSSA rubric.
 Essay should be between 500-700 words.
 Typed, Times New Roman, 12 point font.
 Due: