How does culture shape our perspective? Selections for lit circles

Life of Pi by Yann Martel Synopsis from Amazon.com The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. 2 groups of 4 available

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Synopsis from Amazon.com: Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. 1 group of 6 available

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie Synopsis from Amazon.com It tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for re- education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined. 2 groups of 4 available

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Synopsis from Amazon.com: Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him, and he will discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past- a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world...and will nurture the birth of his soul. 1 group of 5 available

A Separate Peace by John Knowles Synopsis from Amazon.com: An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to the second world war. Set at a boys’ boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world. A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles’s crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic. 2 groups of 4 available

Literature Circle Each class will have groups of 4-6 depending on class size and number of books available. Groups will be formed by Ms. Renk. Groups will have time to talk about their reading schedule. There will be four meeting times between the day you get the books and the end of the semester. Each member of the group will have a different role, and will switch for each meeting. The number of roles will vary depending on the size of the group. The roles and this PowerPoint are available on the class website. Meeting Schedule: December 3 (A), 4 (B); December 17 (A), 18(B); January 6 (A), 7 (B); January 19 (A), 20 (B)

Picking Your Book On half a piece of paper, please write your name, your class period, and your ranking of your book preference (1=top choice, 5=last choice). You are not guaranteed to get your first choice. Life of Pi, The Joy Luck Club, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Bless Me, Ultima, and A Separate Peace.