Pop Goes the Weasel

Pop Goes the Weasel is a one of James Patterson’s many detective novels. In this particular story D.C. detective, Alex Cross, is faced with not one but four killers. They call themselves the “Four Horsemen”. This name stems from the four horsemen of the apoxolypse: Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence. These men met back when they were in the service together and now, many years later, they live spread across the world. At first it started as a game; their own twisted fantasy. They would make up grusome stories to tell eachother every week. Soon the stories turned into realities as they could no longer supress their sadistic urges. The worst of the four is, not surprisingly, “Death” who lives in Washington D.C. Death is played by Geoffrey Shafer. He is a seemingly normal, upper-class man with a wife and children. He is also a part of the British Embassy and noone would ever suspect him of the violent homoscides taking place in the city. At first noone notices the pattern emerging because Death only targets prostitutes in the bad part of town. Alex Cross is one of the few people who take an interest in investigating the deaths and as he gets closer to solving the case he finds himself thrown right into the middle of the fantasy. Now that Cross is playing the game, the Horsemen decide to meet up in person once again. While on a relaxing vacation with his family Alex Cross proposes to his girlfriend and only days later she is kiddnapped by the Horsemen. He races to identify the Four Horsemen, save his fiancee, and end the game once and for all.

1. Because the victims were prostitutes from a poor, mainly black, area of D.C. not many people cared about the rising body count. Alex Cross had to go against the orders of his superiors in order to investigate this case. Would you risk getting fired to catch the killer of people society deemed “undesirable”?

2. The Horsemen went from telling made up stories to actually killing. Has there ever been a time in your life when something that started merely as a game or joke escalated into something much more?

Angels and Demons

Dan Brown's book Angles and Demons is a mystery novel about the adventures of Robert Langdon. This book is before the better know Da Vinci Code. It involves his journey through The Vatican City. The pope has recently died and a body is found in a physicist's lab. The body is branded with the symbol of an ancient society the Illuminati, an ancient scientist group, the Illuminati also stole a canister of anti-matter which in 24 hours will level the Vatican. Langdon goes on a quest to find it following the ancient "Path of Illumination" which leads him to four different locations each a different element: fire, air, earth, and water. At each spot one of the candidates to succeed the pope is murdered. Finally their search leads them back to the Pope's chambers. Where the leader of the company that lost the anti-matter is confronting the pope. Langdon believes the he is the leader of the Illuminati. The pope gets branded by the Illuminati Diamond and guards come in and kill the leader of the lab. Before the leader dies he gives Langdon a tape. It turns out that the old Pope had a kid the new Pope found out and killed him. Planted the bomb to make himself look like a hero.

1) Do you think that secret societies still exist and are active under our noses?

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. Solving the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci --- clues visible for all to see, and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, an actual secret society.

In a breathless race through Paris, London and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to work for Opus Dei --- a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic organization believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory's secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's secret --- and a stunning historical truth --- will be lost forever

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you believe that conspiracy theories regarding religion truly exist and that societies guard these secrets from the public?

2. What do you think would happen to people's beliefs if they found out that religion was no longer based on belief, but based on known facts?

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

The book starts off with Valerie Leftman, a junior in high school, making a list with her boyfriend. The list has all the future targets on it; all the things and people they hate most. One day, at the of their junior year, Nick, her boyfriend, unexpectedly pulls a gun in the cafeteria leaving 6 students and a teacher dead, and many wounded. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved a life of a classmate, but is implicated in the shootings because of the lise she helped create. Nick later pulls the gun on himself, and Valerie is left alone to try and make sense of this horrible tragedy. After a summer of complete seclusion she is forced to go back to school to finish up her senior year and face the guilt. Throughout the rest of the book she tries to come to terms with the tragedy, and her role in it. She relives that day over and over again, and ponders why it happened to her. She believes the teribble relationship she had with her father, and the fact that she was a little bit of an outcast played a part in it. But she eventually recovers and mends all the broken relationships with her family and friends, and begins to move on.

Discussion Questions
1. Do you think Valerie should feel that much guilt for just making the list but not actually shooting the students? Is it her fault or just her boyfriend's?
2. If you were Valerie how would you feel coming back to school after the shooting?
3. Do you think you can ever fully recover when something that tragic happens to you?

The End of Forever

The End of Forever, a book written by Lurlene McDaniel, actually has two novels in it. The first novel begins with two sisters, Erin and Amy, who are complete opposites of each other. Erin is very serious, always on time and in general she is a perfectionist. Amy on the other hand is very optimistic, outgoing and looks for the fun in life without thinking about the consequences. Erin and Amy are always fighting about something in which they can't see exactly eye to eye. They get into an argument over how late Amy was when they were supposed to be practicing their parts for the upcoming play. Despite the small dispute from the previous day both girls perform excellently in the drama club's performance. The cast has a party to celebrate the play's success. Unfortunately, they run out of pop at the party and Erin is asked to go pick up more. Amy talks Erin into letting her go run the errand instead of Erin because she had recently gotten her driver's license and can't wait to drive. Erin eventually agrees to let her little sister go and watches as she pulls out of the parking lot into the downpour of rain.

After awhile, Erin starts to worry that Amy still isn't back with the refreshments. So Erin and Travis (Amy's boyfriend) go out looking for her and when they don't find her, they decide to call home because Amy must have gone home instead. Panic truly sets in when she calls the home phone and no one answers. Back at the theater Erin hears the devastating words, " ... there's been an accident...it's Amy,Erin. Amy's been in a terrible wreck"(McDaniel 45).

Weeks pass at the hospital, and Amy never comes out of her coma and her brain activity slowly decreases. Erin and her family decide to donate Amy's organs because they feel that even though it is a horrible loss, at least someone might me able to benefit from the tragedy.

The second novel is called Time to Let Go, it begins with Erin talking to a therapist. Erin isn't exactly happy with going to the meetings but she feels that if she has any chance of leaving to go to her dream school in a few months she has to get rid of the horrible headaches that she is suffering from. Erin feels as though her parents should be forced to attend these meetings too because the entire family had fallen apart after Amy's death.

As Erin and the therapist search for answers to her mysterious headaches, Erin lands the lead role in a play and she meets David. Slowly Erin starts to like David because not only does he try to help her with her ongoing headaches but Erin begins to realize that David is like Amy in many ways. Erin finally allows herself to fully grieve and afterwards she realizes that her headaches are becoming less severe and less frequent. I won't ruin the ending for you, but I think that McDaniel ties the two novels together nicely.

I think that the major theme of this book is to enjoy everything in life and never take anything for granted because you don't know what the future holds.

1) In the novel, Amy and her parents have to make the hard decision of whether or not to turn off the machines that were keeping Amy alive. Would you ever be able to make a decision like that?

2) Do you feel that the family made the right decision, to turn off the machines, due to the fact that Amy was brain dead?

3) It takes Erin the entire novel to figure out the main cause to her headaches. Have you ever been so preoccupied with trying to keep other people happy that you end up causing yourself to suffer?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an unusual mystery novel written by an unusual narrator. The author of the story is fifteen year old Christopher John Francis from England. What makes him unusual is Christopher suffers from fairly intense autism. Christopher is easily frustrated when he encounters uncomfortable situations. Christopher cannot understand emotions, doesn’t relate well with people, and cannot stand being touched. In some areas though, Christopher is a genius. He knows facts like all of the countries of the world and their capitols, and he excels in the math and science subjects. Christopher wrote this story as an assignment for his special school. His story begins when one night he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled by a pitchfork. Christopher decides he will take it upon himself to find who is responsible. At first he is blamed for the murder by the dogs’ owner, Mrs. Shears, who quickly calls the police. When the police begin questioning Christopher he is unable to understand why and is angered by the policeman touching him. He hits the police officer and is arrested and taken to jail. He is later bailed out by his father who the reader learns is Christopher’s only guardian and loves him very much. Christopher believes his mother died from a heart attack at the hospital which the reader later learns is false. Christopher’s father, wanting to keep him out of trouble, tells him to stop playing his detective games and forget about the murder. Christopher who has a great love for animals doesn’t understand his father's reasoning and decides to continue his detective work in secret and behind his father's back. As he digs deeper into the case he uncovers secrets in his own family. One day while alone at his home he sneaks into his father’s room and found a drawer of letters addressed to him from his mother. The letters have post marked dates after the supposed death of his mother. After reading the letters in which his mother describes her new life he begins to realize that his mother truly isn’t dead. When his father finds him reading the letter he realizes he can no longer lie to Christopher. Christopher’s mother had more of a temper and was less understanding than his father and always had a hard time dealing with Christopher because of his disability. She said she still loved Christopher but she couldn’t take him anymore so she ran off to London with Mr. Shears. Mr. Shears is the former husband of Mrs. Shears and he and Christopher’s mother had an affair behind the backs of Christopher’s father and Mrs. Shears. She said in her letters even though she had left, she still wanted to keep in touch with Christopher. Christopher’s father mad at the betrayal of his mother to their family decided to cut Christopher off from her, telling him she had died. Christopher unable to understand that his mother left him out of choice was mad at his father for lying. Then his father told him that it was he who had killed Wellington out of anger. Christopher unable to understand why his father would kill a dog no longer felt safe in a house with a murderer and liar. That night Christopher ran away. Having no place to go, he decides to journey to England by himself to find his mother. Can Christopher travel all the way to London by himself and find his mother and can his relationship with his mother ever be repaired, read and find out.
1. This story is much different from most literature because it is written in the unique perspective of a person with severe autism. His insight and thinking is very different from most normal people. Do you believe that reading a story like this can teach us how to better deal with people with disabilities and show how their thinking may be very different from our own?
2. Christopher’s mother leaves because she is unable to deal with his disability any longer. Do you think there would ever be a point as a parent that you would not be able to deal with your child any longer and leave him or her?

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen is about a high school girl named Macy whose father recently passed away. Since her father's death, she blames herself, but always pretends like she is fine. Macy tries to live a "perfect" life, with the perfect boyfriend, job, and grades. Before her father's death, she never cared about appearance, but now she must look the part of perfection. Macy says, "If I wanted people to see me as calm and collected, together, I had to look the part" (Dessen 17). She must play every role of being invincible. Macy's boyfriend, Jason, is a genius and away at Brain Camp for the summer. Since she is alone for the summer, Macy's days consist of the boring job at the library and her nights of SAT prep. Macy and her mother rarely see each other since her mom is always occupied with work. She is content with her life, but when she begins working for the catering company, Wish, everything changes. She meets a creative, edgy guy, named Wes, who she begins to fall for. Instead of her SAT prep every night, she goes out to parties with her work friends. In the midst of her summer, Jason decides he wants a break with Macy because she decided to say "I love you." Despite the "break" with Jason, she finally begins to reach happiness with Wes. She can tell him anything and even share her feelings about her father, something she has not been able to do since his death. Macy and Wes grow closer throughout the novel as he shows her that there is more to life than striving for perfection. However, "perfect" Jason is coming back at the end of the summer. Who will she choose, the smart, geeky Jason or the edgy, artistic Wes?

1. In the novel, Macy is conflicted between Jason and Wes. She cannot deny her attraction towards Wes, but Jason is the "ideal" boyfriend and in her comfort zone. What would you do if an edgy guy/girl came along? Would you take the risk of trying things out or remain in your comfort zone? Why?

2. Macy's mother does not apporve of Macy working at the catering company or hanging out with her work friends. However, these are the things that make Macy happy. Would you listen to your parents if they told you to stop doing what makes you happy? Would you be willing to break the rules?

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

In Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, June Nealon has had a tragic life. Her first husband died in a car crash leaving her to care for their young daughter Elizabeth. The officer who had been on the scene of the crash would check in on June multiple times and support her during her grieving. Believing she found the man of her dreams, June married the officer Kurt Nealon. Everything had been turning around for June only to have another tragedy strike her life. While June was pregnant with Kurt's child, a handyman named Shay Bourne that worked for June was accused of killing Kurt and Elizabeth. June was now alone and pregnant and had to go through the trial of her child and husbands murderer. In the end the jury claimed that Shay was guilty and he was sent on death row which was one of the first in many years for that state.

The story then changes to the view of life inside of the prison through the eyes of an inmate named Lucius who had been convicted of killing his boyfriend when he found him cheating. Lucius had a cell next to Shay's and gave insight to their time in prison. Not long after Shay had moved to the tier, things seeming like miracles began to happen. A dead bird was revived, Lucius seemed cured of his AIDS and the plumbing in the system was suddenly filled with wine with all signs pointing to Shay's doing. Word gets out of these miracles and the public gathers outside the prison with their sick ones hoping that Shay would cure them. They believed that he was the Messiah.

While these miracles were occurring, a priest named Michael had visited Shay to give him comfort and guidance while he waited for his death sentence to be carried out. Michael had been on the jury that convicted and sentenced Shay Bourne to death and was starting to feel remorse for the conviction. He started to grow fond of Shay and through the book he began to question his faith. In court on day, the chains hanging from Shay simply dropped off without reason. Seeing such a thing makes Michael start to believe that maybe Shay was in fact the Messiah.

During the time of Shay Bourne's incarceration, June Nealon delivers the child she had been pregnant with and named her Claire. Claire is found to have a failing heart condition. To live, Claire needs a heart transplant. In the meantime she had been given a pace maker to restart her heart if it quit on her but the solution was only temporary. The clock is ticking on her chances at living but then an opportunity arises at gaining an available heart, the catch is the heart belongs to the killer of her father and sister. Shay Bourne had seen Claire on T.V. and knew she needed a heart and desperately wanted to give her his when he was put to death. For Shay, the method of his death was lethal injection which would not make his heart viable for a transplant. The story continues in a fight with the system to allow hanging so that the heart may be used and the fight of June Nealon to decide if she will accept to put a killer’s heart in her remaining daughter to keep her alive.

1. In Change of Heart, June Nealon must decide if she will accept a heart from the killer of her husband and first daughter in order to keep her second daughter Claire alive. Do you believe that it is possible to forgive a killer? What if forgiving them could save someone you loved?

2. During the novel Shay Bourne causes father Michael to begin wondering about his faith. What do you think you would do if you began to question one of your strongest beliefs?

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Arthur Dent is a completely normal, though very unsuccessful, Englishman going through the motions of life as we all do; however, that is all about to change. In just a few hours, the Earth will be destroyed for seemingly no reason at all. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, follows Arthur as he attempts to fit in in the universe that destroyed his planet for a highway. His long time friend, and secretly Alien, Ford Prefect, saves Arthur and latches on to one of the enormous spaceships that incinerated Earth just seconds before hand. As they travel, Ford constantly refers back to the all holy guide of traveling spacemen, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which gives tips and information on how to survive the cold depths of space. As they travel, they meet up with the President of the Universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox, who with him has an acquaintance of Arthur's Tricia McMillan, and together, they travel the universe in search of the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything". Their quest ultimately leads them to a super computer with the answer. The answer is 42. This of course is no help without the original question, which the computer tells them is in another computer disguised as a planet. The computer then reveals that this planetoid was called Earth. In shock, Arthur is then kidnapped by two Earth mice who secretly are the original creators of Earth. Because Earth had finished formulating the question, Arthur's brain contained it. The mice attempt to kill Arthur and dissect his brain, but Ford and the gang escape with Arthur and decide they are hungry and set course for the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe". The mice, too lazy to build another earth and wait 10,000,000 years, make up the question, "How many roads must a man walk down?"

Do you think Adams was making a point when he made Earth a computer?

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Stacey Brown, a 16 year old Junior at Hillcrest Boarding School, is a hereditary Wiccan through her grandmother. Stacey wants to have a normal high school experience, but her junior year isn't easy. Not only does she have a crush on her best friend's boyfriend, she has a bigger secret, she has prophetic nightmares. Now she is having nightmares again, but this time they're about the death of her best friend and roommate, Drea. These nightmares cause her to wet the bed and this is extremely embarassing for her, and she tries to hide it from Drea. However, it is not the first time Stacey's had these prophetic nightmares. Three years ago, a girl she used to babysit, Maura, was murdered. Stacey had ignored her nightmares about the young girl's death and then Maura was killed, and now she is having those strange dreams again. One night Stacey, Drea and another friend Amber do a card reading in there dorm. To Stacey's horror Drea gets the card of death. However, she does not tell Drea that's what the card means. Then Drea begins to receive weird e-mails and freaky phone calls. Then to make things worse, someone starts to leave Drea white lilies, the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacey's dreams. Another girl, Veronica, tells Stacey and Drea that she has been receiving the same emails and phone calls. Everyone just thinks its a game, but then Stacey finds Veronica dead in a classroom in the middle of the night. There are no witnesses, and no one has a perfect alibi. With everyone as a potential suspect, Stacey turns to the folk magic her grandmother taught her. As time is running out will Stacey be able to figure out Drea's stalker? You'll have to find out yourself =].

1). Do you believe in magic? Why do you feel this way?

2). What would you do if you could have stopped someones murder, but didn't?

3). What would you do if you were in Stacey's position?

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult is a novel where each chapter is told in a different point of view. The main character, Delia Hopkins grew up with her father, Andrew Hopkins; her mother was killed in a car accident. Her neighbors, Fitz and Eric, became her best friends, even well into adulthood. Delia, age 32, lives with her father, Eric, who is now her fiance, and their four year old daughter, Sophie. Delia does search and rescue with her dog Greta, Eric is a lawyer and Fitz writes for the Gazette, a local New Hampshire newspaper. As the book progresses, there are multiple flashbacks told by each prominant character about their childhoods. We learn that Fitz is in love with Delia and that Eric grew up with an alcohlic for a mother, among other things. Everything seems normal for Delia until one day, the cops show up at her house, and not for her help in a missing persons case. They arrest her father for kidnapping Bethany Matthews 28 years ago. We come to find out that Bethany Matthews is Delia herself. Her father kidnapped her when she was four years old.
Immediately her world falls apart. All the strange dreams she was having turn out to be her lost childhood memories, she cannot trust the man who raised her to be the woman she is today, although now she is not quite sure who she really is, and most importantly, her mother is alive. Delia asks Eric to be her father's lawyer and they all move to Arizona, where the kidnapping took place. Fitz's editor flys him to Arizona to cover the case, though Delia is not aware of this.
Everyone seems to have their share of problems in this book. Delia, Eric and Sophie move into a pink trailer next to a seemingly odd woman named Ruthann. Sophie becomes very close to Ruthann, and so does Delia. Eventually, Delia and Eric find out about Ruthann's cancer. She secretly refuses chemotherapy and eventually committs suicide. Eric also seems to be having a lot of trouble with Andrew's case as the details unfold. He seems to be losing Delia, too. He is even unware of the fact that Fitz is in love with her and Delia may have feelings for Fitz, as well. Delia searches for her mother and once she finds her, she isn't the mother she dreamt her up to be. Her mother, Elise, was an alcoholic, and that is why Andrew kidnapped Delia soon after their divorce. But Andrew's problems seem to be the heaviest. As he tells his story, we learn that life in prison is a horrible place to be, even for a man in his mid-sixties who wants nothing to do with anyone. He is constantly harassed by gangs and even stoops so low that he helps deal drugs. Andrew is in such bad shape that he changes his mind about wanting to be found guilty. He knows now that if he is found guilty and has to stay in prison, he will be murdered.
Vanishing Acts is a very fast-paced, intriguing novel. It deals with issues of the real world and finding one's true identity. Delia struggles with her identity: does the past really matter, or is it who she is now that counts the most? Will Andrew be found not guilty because he had a reasonable excuse for taking his daughter and running? What will happen with Fitz and Delia; Eric and Delia?


Questions
1) Fitz is maddly in love with Delia and he knows she is engaged. To make matters worse, all three of them have been best friends since their childhoods. If you loved someone deeply but you knew they were engaged, would you tell the one you love how you feel? Do you think it'd be the right thing to do, or are these sorts of things better left unsaid?

2) Ever since Delia was little, she believed her mother had passed away, until one day, she finds out this is not true. Would you be upset if your father withheld this information even if he had a reason to do so? How would you feel if you grew up without a mother, or a father, as some of us sadly do?

3) Andrew kidnapped his daughter in order to protect her from her alcoholic mother. If you were in Andrew's position (divorced and only saw your daughter on the weekends) would you do all that you could, even if it meant kidnapping your daughter because he could not go to the police, to save your son or daughter? Do you think he had the right to do something like that?

Hacking Harvard

Hacking Harvard, by Robin Wasserman, is a very unrealistic story about something all of us seniors surely know: the college admissions system. Three extremely intelligent teens (Eric, Max, and Schwarz) have decided to take on what they believe to be the ultimate challenge. This challenge is getting an average, run of the mill guy into Harvard. While this may seem like a long shot, these three teens believe it to be possible and want to prove their point, which is that "there's something wrong with the admissions system" (48) and "to prove it's not perfect" (48).

They choose Clay Porter, a below-average student who has no plans of going to college, as their subject. Though he was at first reluctant, he soon agrees to help them when money is put into the picture. With Clay, they help him with various college admission tasks that they believe should trick Harvard into letting him in.

One admissions procedure they "guide" him with is taking the SAT test. While many students longing to get into Harvard study for days on end to get perfect scores on the test, Clay does not study at all. Instead, Eric and the other two guys help Clay by cheating the system. They install a microscopic camera into Clay's glasses, which transmits the questions Clay is seeing infront of him to a television screen. They then are able to tell him all of the answers through a microphone which is synced to an earpiece Clay is wearing. All goes well, until all of these complex electronics decide to stop working. The teens are then forced to use their brains, and figure out that they can use the light reflected from the pond next to the classroom window to highlight the correct answers onto Clay's test (this part makes no sense to me).

All of their efforts are about to pay off when they start to think about how this will affect other people attempting to get into Harvard. Harvard does not let in many applicants as is, and if Clay, someone who does not deserve to go there, gets in over someone who does want to go there, that would not be right. They are potentially taking the spot of someone who has worked all their high school career to get into Harvard.

In the end, they don't care about the fact that they are taking someone's spot and submit Clay's application to Harvard to be potentially admitted, waitlisted, or denied.

1. The characters in this story believe they played a prank on Harvard. Do you consider what they did a prank, or do you believe what they did broke the law?

2. Clay potential could be taking someone who really wants to go to Harvard spot, though people helped him cheat his way in. In the end, he actually does get in and does go. Do you believe he should ever fess up for cheating his way in?

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

A Separate Peace by John Knowles begins with Gene Forrester, the protagonist, going back to his old school, Devon School, after fifteen years. he reflects on his years there and his old friend Finny, who was an outgoing, athletic, talkative and mischievous boy. Unlike Gene, Finny excelled at sports nautrally, beating the school swimming record the in his first attempt. The boys later form their own secret society for people who have jumped off a nearby tree into the river. The first time they jump, Gene is shamed into it by Finny, and the second time Gene hesitates and Finny pushed him, saving his life. Even though Finny and Gene are good friends, Gene resents him throught most of the novel for being a better person and having a sure identity. Since Finny is so good at sports, Gene assumes that Finny is jealous of Gene's academic success and suspects that Finny is out to distract him and ruin his grades. He later realizes that there is no rivalry between them, but this only makes him more envious of Finny because he believes that Finny is a better person than he is. He says “I was not of the same quality as he" (Knowles 51). On their third jump, Gene's knees bend and wiggle the branch and Finny falls off and breaks his leg. Gene feels that he is guilty for the accident and tries to admit it but Finny does not believe him. World War II has started by now and one of their friends, Leper Lepellier, enlists right away. Gene goes to visit him and it turns out Leper has gone slightly mad and paranoid. When Leper and Gene return to school , Finny has another falls down the stairs and breaks his leg. The boys discuss again the first accident while Finny is in the infirmary, and Finny asks Gene if it was "just a blind impulse" (Knowles 162) up in the tree, he wants to believe that it is not part of some deeper hatred. This novel is told by an unreliable narrator Gene, and so not everything is stated plainly. you must read between the lines a lot in the book and that is what makes it one of my favorites. The relationship between Finny and Gene is very complex and only fully understood by someone who has experienced it before.

Questions:

1. Gene is jealous of Finny most of the novel.Have you ever felt angry at someone out of jealousy, not out of hatred. How does this feeling cause conflicts within you and how does it usually play out in your relationships?

2. Finny becomes angry that he can no longer go to war. Put yourself in his position, as a young boy during the 40s and everyone around you is enlisting. Would you be upset or releived to not be able to go to war?

Tuck Everlasting

Winnie Foster a young girl about the age of ten, comes from a strict well-off family. For her entire life, her family has kept her locked away from the rest of the world by an iron fence that surrounds their house. One day, Winnie decides to venture out past the fence and into her family's woods. There she finds a boy drinking from a fountain named Jesse Tuck. Through Jesse, Winnie finds out that him and his family are immortal because they drank water from the spring over one hundred years ago. The Tuck family decides to take Winnie away to explain their secret immortality and to explain why their secret must be kept. While this is happening, a man in a yellow suit is watching them. This man came to town to try to find the magical well that his grandmother told him about and sell the water from it. He sees the Tucks taking Winnie as a kidnapping and uses this information to get Winnie's family to sell him their woods.
While all of this is going on, the Tucks introduce Winnie to their strange way of life outside of society. The more time she spends with the Tucks, the more she starts to love them like the family that she never really had. Unlike her family, the Tucks aren't strict and live in a modest house far away from town. The Tucks show Winnie that their secret of immortality must be kept, because if everyone else knew about it, they would abuse it. Plus if other people knew about it, it would throw off the balance of nature (the cycle of life and death). After a short while, the man in the yellow suit shows up after following them to their house. He tells them that he knows their secret and plans to expose them to the rest of the world. Filled with outrage, Mae Tuck (the mother) hits the man in the yellow suit over the head with a shot gun. The wound eventually kills him. Through all of this, a sheriff has been watching because he followed the man in the yellow suit. The sheriff takes Mae into custody and she is sentenced to be hanged. This is a problem because since she can't die the Tucks' secret will be exposed. I don't want to ruin the rest of the story so you'll have to read it if you want to know how it ends.

The story explains why immortality may not be as great as it seems, and why the natural flow of life is important to maintain and keep in balance.

1. If it was possible, would you take the chance to live forever?
2. Do you think it would be a bad thing to be immortal?

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith, is an intriguing story that starts out with Tom Ripley being approached in a bar by Mr. Greenleaf. Mr. Greenleaf’s son, Dickie, moved to Europe, and the Greenleafs’ are desperately trying to get him to come home. Tom had met Dickie a few times, but was not very close to him, but because Tom is so incredibly bored with his own life and everyone that surrounds him, he agrees to help in any way that he can. "'Mrs. Greenleaf,' Tom said gently, 'I want you to know that I'll do everything I can to make Dickie come back"'(20). Tom then ventures to the small town of Mongibello, Italy, the town in which Dickie is staying. Tom discovers that Dickie is close friends with a girl named Marge. At first, Dickie does not seem to like Tom much, but after a little while, they become quite close and Tom begins to live with Dickie. Dickie makes it quite clear that he will not return home, but Tom still tries to provide hope to the Greenleafs’ in his letters, even though he has given up on the idea entirely. They become closer and closer and Marge, who is in love with Dickie, is very jealous of their relationship. Tom feels such a strong bond with Dickie, that one day, while Dickie is at Marge’s house, Tom begins trying on Dickie’s clothes and impersonating him in the mirror. “He chose a dark-blue silk tie and knotted it carefully. The suit fitted him. He re-parted his hair and put the part a little more to one side, the way Dickie wore his”(78). Tom realizes that they look quite similar to each other. Dickie returns home and catches Tom in the act. Dickie feels that it is quite a strange thing for Tom to do, and their relationship is never the same. Dickie separates from Tom and begins to hint that Tom should return to America. They begin to despise each other, but they had made plans to take a trip to San Remo, so they go. On the train ride there, Tom imagines killing Dickie, he forms a plan in which he kills Dickie and then becomes him, and that is exactly what he does. Tom must plan everything perfectly after that in order to avoid suspicion and get away with his lie. All is going well until an old friend of Dickie’s comes to visit him in the house in Rome that Tom is now living in. Tom must kill this man in order to continue his impersonation. This begins police questioning and a long series of events in which Tom must navigate through to be able to get away with all his bad deeds. Will he get caught, or will he be able to lie his way to becoming a free man?
Discussion Question:
Have you ever wanted to become someone else? Obviously not going so far as killing that person to become them, but wanted to be able to live the lifestyle they lived?

Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb

Stevie Barret has had a lap band operation to bring her weight under control. Her obesity was caused by emotional over-eating due to guilt she felt over not being able to save her little sister Sunshine and the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of the uncle who took her in when she was a child. Sunshine was thrown off a bridge by their schizophrenic mother, Helen, as was Stevie, before their mother jumped off the bridge herself. Throughout the book, Stevie revisits different parts from her childhood, and how it was to grow up with Helen around, and sometimes, when she wasn't around.

Stevie now has to go through the process of forgiving her mother, and herself, for what happened to Sunshine and accept that it wasn't her fault that Sunshine wasn't able to make it out of the river. She has to do this while also trying to accept her new smaller body, throw off her shyness to talk to her very attractive neighbor, and gain self confidence in spite of a very jealous friend who is determined to keep her down.

1) Stevie also has to help her cousins, who have their own emotional baggage from their childhood, to plan her aunt and uncle's fortieth wedding anniversary party, a party that no one really wants to happen because it is obvious that her aunt would be better off without her uncle. What would you do if you knew one of your friends or relatives was in some type of abusive relationship?

2) How would you feel if your mother did not recognize you as her own child due to mental illness? Would you resent her for it? Would you be able to eventually accept her as she is?

3) How would you deal with a jealous friend who was trying to keep you from growing as a person? Would you try to fix the relationship, or would you just stop being friends?

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

The story begins with Jane Margaux, a lonely eight-year-old girl. She receives little attention from her mother, the head of a New York theater company. Her parents are divorced, and she sees little of her father who has recently remarried. The only time during the week that Jane's mother gives her the time of day is on Sundays when she takes her to look at the beautiful jewelry at Tiffany's.

Despite the fact that Jane seems to be rather lonely, a good friend keeps her company. Her friend's name is Michael. Michael is always there for Jane. He walks her to school each morning. He meets her after school. He takes her for ice cream at the St. Regis Hotel on Sundays, right before her mother takes her to look at jewelry. Anytime Jane has a problem or a feeling of insecurity, Michael is there to comfort her. Jane says, "You're a good listener..." (Patterson 33). Michael seems like the perfect companion for any person, however, Jane is the only one that can see him. As Jane's mother comes to get her for jewelry shopping one Sunday afternoon, Jane shouts at Michael, "Here she comes Michael...Look invisible" (Patterson 14). This remark is ironic, because Michael is invisible; he is Jane's imaginary friend.

Jane loves Michael like brother, even though he is only visible to her. He explains to her that this is his job, that his purpose is to help children like herself until they are able to manage on their own. Unfortunately, he explains, a time comes when he must leave her. This happens on her ninth birthday. As a nine-year-old child, she is considered old enough to manage on her own. She is devestated with Michael's departure from her life, but he promises that once he leaves, she will not even remember the time they spent together.

Many years later, as Jane reaches her thirties, she still finds herself rather lonely. She works for her mother, and even though she is a famous playwrite herself, she is not happy. Her mother now seems to pay too much attention to Jane, nearly trying to control every aspect of her life. Jane has a boyfriend who works in the theater industry, but he acts too much like Jane's snobbish and conceited mother that she decides she can no longer handle him. And worst of all, Jane still remembers her best friend Michael that she had as a child. For some reason she cannot forget him, as he said she would. She thinks of him constantly, and she even writes what becomes a famous play about an eight-year-old girl with an imaginary friend named Michael.

As Jane finds her life spiraling downward, she needs something to lift her spirits. One day, as she is having lunch with a friend, a very handsome young man approaches her. Jane recognizes him immediately as being Michael. Even though this is the grown up Michael, she knows it is him. They begin talking, and Jane is estatic when she learns that this truly is the Michael from her childhood. She explains to him how she had never forgotten him as he said she would, which he finds to be strange. He explains to Jane that his immortal life is in a transitional stage right now; he is inbetween assignments, so he has a chance to live a normal life for some time.

Jane and Michael spend more and more time together each day, and they begin to fall in love. Unfortunately, Jane encounters constant problems with her ex-boyfriend, and Jane's mother is unaccepting of Michael since he cannot seem to give her significant background information about his life. Jane and Michael decide to get away for awhile, however, while they are gone, Jane seems to be falling ill. She constantly thinks about what her mother had recently told her, about Jane's grandmother who had died in her thirties from a heart failure. Michael, on the other hand, knows that he did not simply run into Jane coincidentally, that there must be a reason behind their recent reunion. He was there for Jane in her childhood to bring her into life, and he worries that he has found his next assignment, which would be to bring Jane out of life. He cannot even imagine permanently losing her, so he decides to leave her once they return home, feeling that if he is no longer with her, then there would be no chance of her dying.

Shortly after they return home from their vacation, Michael feels this sensation that he must go to the hospital. Is Jane the victim in the hospital bed, or is it someone else that he has come to assist?

Discussion Questions
1. Michael explains that an imaginary friend helps children feel less alone and helps them find a place in the world. Do you feel that children have imaginary friends to help them cope with things in their life? How else do we use our imagination to help us deal with life or hide from it?

2. By the end of the story, Jane becomes rather rebellious towards her controlling mother by running away with Michael. Do you think this was the right thing for her to do? If you had a mother that constantly made you feel as though you were not living up to her expectations, would you have done the same thing?

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is a novel full of deceitful girls, fabulous clothes, and a secret no one can ever talk about. Alison DiLaurentis, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields are unlikely best friends. Spencer is the only girl with enough gall to stand up to the marvelous “It Girl,” Ali. Aria is just lucky to have friends because she’s known as a weird outsider. Hanna is a pudgy wanna-be, and Emily is completely confused. However, on the last night of seventh grade, the girls have a sleepover in Spencer’s refurbished barn, and get in a huge fight when Spencer refuses to by hypnotized by Ali. That is the night Ali disappears.
Over the next three years the girls all go their separate ways—Hanna gets skinny (by making herself throw up), becomes best friends with Mona, a girl they all used to tease, and the pair becomes the new “It Girls” of Rosewood Day school. Aria moves to Iceland (after her dad cheats on her mother with a student of his) and returns with a new attitude, style, and superiority complex. Spencer throws herself into school-work and is obsessed with beating her older sister Melissa (this includes stealing Melissa’s British fiancé, Wren). Emily gets involved with the swim team at school and her and her boyfriend, Ben, are the sporty couple (though, she shouldn’t be with him because she might be gay. She’s not sure).
When new neighbors move into Ali’s old house and start to tear apart the backyard to build, Ali’s body turns up. It’s now quite clear that this was a murder. Once the body is uncovered, the four girls start getting mysterious messages from someone named “A,” and A knows all of their secrets. Could A be Alison? Or her murderer?

1. How would you feel if you started getting texts from a random person who knew all your deepest, darkest, possibly illegal, secrets? What would you do?

2. In any of the girls predicaments (bulimia, boyfriend-stealing, dad-cheating, or sexuality issues), what would you do? Who might you turn to?

3. If you had a group of friends and one suddenly went missing, would you drift from your friends, as these girls did, or would you stick with them.

Nineteen Eighty-Three (+1)

1984 by George Orwell is a story about a futuristic time in the year 1984. The main character is Winston Smith who is just a low ranking citizen of society. In this society there is a central, unfaced leader called Big Brother. Big Brother is the leader of the Party, who is in charge of this so called Utopian society. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language. The Party has brain washed everyone in the society convincing them that Big Brother brings true happiness to the people. However Big Brother has made things like free thought, sex, and expression of feeling illegal. Winston, however, dislikes the Party secretly and always writes down his thoughts in a diary. He must hide his secrets from the thought police and the telescreens that always watch over the people. Throughout the duration of the novel, Winston becomes friends with a very powerful party member named O'Brien. O'Brien is thought to be a secret member of the Brotherhood, which is a secret organization that works against the Party. On his "journey" to stop Big Brother, Winston has an affair with a girl named Julia. Towards the end of the novel, Winston gives up on Julia and we discover that O'Brien has been watching Winston the whole time and has just worked to brainwash him like everyone else. I'm sorry to ruin the ending but we all have read this book sooooo........Winston completely gives in and accepts the Party. Learning to love Big Brother after all.

1.Do you think it is possible for a so called Utopia to take place in the world?

2. What do you feel the definition of Utopia actually is? Because Utopias always fail they are never the perfect society they should be..Why? Is perfect an unrealistic term?

3. If you had the chance to stand up to the leader of a nation like Winston decided to do, would you do it?

The Things They Carried- Tim O'Brien

They Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a novel that tells about the horrors of war. It is written in a series of memories over time. A the beginning of novel the protagonist, Tim, is remembering an experience in Vietnam. This memory was about the guilt their captain felt over the loss over one of his subordinates. Ted, a lowly soldier was shot in the head while going to the bathroom. The captain ends up using marijuana and tranquilizers to help control his guilt. Time then explains the events that lead up to him being stationed in Vietnam. He was drafted unwillingly into the army from his happy life in Minnesota. Another memory involved when Curt Lemon dies by playing catch with the medic with a fragmentation grenade. The medic, while accidentalness causing this death still feels extraordinarily guilty. Another two men Jensen and Stump made a pact if either were severely injured the other would make sure he would die quickly. When stump loses his leg to land mine he begs for Jensen to spare him. Jensen is torn between keeping his promise and leaving his friend in pain. Shortly, Stump dies in transit to a medical location, and Jensen feels guily for feeling relieved that his freind is out of pain.

How would you feel if someone you knew was drafting into the army?

How would you feel if you were accidently responsible for another's death?