Haddon,
Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Kidd, Sue Monk The
Secret Life of Bees
INTRODUCTION EXTRAORDINARY CHILDREN is the theme
for Sandy Jensen's online EN 306
"Diverse Voices" class this Winter 2005. Four young people at the
crucial age of 12-15 try to find their unique place in the world in
each of these four novels from very different places and authors.
Starting close
to home, Corvallis author Linda Crew brings us a true
story imagined as a novel in Brides
of Eden.
In 1903 a charismatic
preacher named Joshua came to Corvallis to cast his spell over the
young women of the town. 16-year-old Eva Mae tells of the excitement
and horror of being swept up in an "End Time" cult.
Next we go
north into the shadows of the British Columbia coastline,
where in Monkey Beach tragedy
strikes a First Nation's community when
17-year-old Jimmy Hill vanishes at sea. Author Eden Robinson, a First
Nations woman of Haisla and Heiltsuk descent, follows the story of
Lisa, a wayward girl with a dark secret (or is it a dark gift?), who
sets off alone in search of Jimmy and instead finds herself.
The next book, The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by
Mark Haddon, takes place in England. It is told through the voice of
12-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone (“boon” of “Christ,” get
it?), who is autistic. He finds the neighbor's dog dead on the front
lawn and decides to write a book telling the story of his investigation
into the "murder." Haddon has worked with autistic individuals and
really opens a wonderful window into their internal world.
Our fourth
book, The
Secret Life of Bees, takes place in
South Carolina
in 1964, and Lily Owens is 14-years-old.Lily ends up on the run from
the law with her black "stand-in mother." They are taken in by three
African-American sisters who are beekeepers, and Lily is introduced to
their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the divine female power
of the Black Madonna.
The Winter semester is not very long,
but these four books are
page-turners that will open your eyes and hearts to the world of
EXTRAORDINARY CHILDREN.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon entering the course, the student should be able to:
Read college-level texts fluently
Write short 500 to 1000-word papers with good control of grammar
and mechanics
Make appropriate learning choices for him or herself
Upon completion of the course
the student should:
Have read or viewed a variety of texts critically
Have new experience making reasonable inferences using such
critical thinking skills as compare/contrast or developing an argument
to support a position
Have new experience finding a writing topic from reading or
viewing and annotating. This means he or she needs to consider the
evidence, organize the material, and communicate judgments in a variety
of effective genres
Have new experience thinking and writing about meaning,
interpretation, and evaluation of literature:
Compare and contrast characters and their motivations
Explain theme or plot by writing about them
Use direct quotes from texts to support written points in an
essay and refer to and cite secondary sources when needed to develop a
point
Have an appreciation of the theme of extraordinary children in
contemporary literature and be eager to seek it out in other aspects of
daily life
Have an awareness of the diverse voices that have help us think
about children and their place in the world in terms esp. of culture,
gender, religion, race, and character.
How is this Class Organized?
Web site opens Dec. 15. Please get your
books and start to read over Christmas Break.
Do not begin in Discussion Area until class begins.
Jan. 5 Class Begins
1. Read Brides
of Eden.Acquaint
yourself with the author by exploring
Resources for Linda Crew. Visit
Discussion area of web site and participate. Write 4-5 page
paper on the topic of your choice. Choose from the many
ideas outlined in Assignments. Submit paper to
me via Drop Box by 8:00 am Tuesday, Jan. 18.
2. Read Monkey
Beach.
Acquaint yourself with the author by exploring
Resources for Eden Robinson. Visit
Discussion area of web site and participate. Write 4-5 page
paper on the topic of your choice. Choose from the many
ideas outlined in Assignments. Submit paper to
me via Drop Box by 8:00 am Tuesday, Jan. 25.
3. Read Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Acquaint
yourself with the author by exploring Resources for Mark Haddon. Visit
Discussion area of web site and participate. Write 4-5 page
paper on the topic of your choice. Choose from the many
ideas outlined in Assignments. Submit paper to
me via Drop Box by 8:00 am Tuesday, Feb1.
4. Read The
Secret Life of Bees. Acquaint yourself
with the author by
exploring Resources for Sue Monk Kidd. Visit
Discussion area of web site and participate. Write 4-5 page
paper on the topic of your choice. Choose from the many
ideas outlined in Assignments. Submit paper
to me via Drop Box by 8:00 am Tuesday, Feb. 8.
ABOUT INCOMPLETES: I will consider an Incomplete when a student has
successfully submitted three-quarters
of the class work, has a
reasonable chance of completing the course in a timely manner, has a
documented emergency, and has contacted his or her advisor. The less
work of yours I've seen, the less likely I am to grant an Incomplete.
How Do I Submit My Work?
ETHICS
First of all, let me say the the whole reason for having discussions
and doing research is because it helps us think about the books. If you
think of something in a new way because of a comment you read, there's
no ethical problem with reflecting that in your own writing.
CITATIONS
You may wish to give credit to your colleague, but if it is an idea
that appears to be "in the wind," write it in your own words without
citation. Of course, if you quote anything from the web, please use an
informal, magazine-style citation. If you don't know what that looks
like, pick up a magazine like Time
and observe how citations are woven naturally into sentence
attributions.
LABELLING FILES
Please include your last name and one identifying name from the book
you're writing about, so I don't get a bunch of identical files. For
example, if your name is Jane Smith, and you're writing about Brides of Eden, label your file
like this: Smith.Brides.doc