1. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain

2. Mark Twain—Background
Read the background information on page 574.
In your notes, record one interesting/important piece of information about Mark Twain for each of the four sections of background info.

3. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Story Structure
Frame Story:
A storyline that acts as the framework (“frame”) for a story-within-the-story to take place
It’s the overarching story that contains another (more emphasized) story
It provides the background story that gives the real, more focused-on story an excuse to be told
A narrative that contains a frame story and a story- with-a-story starts and ends with the frame story (hence “frame”—it’ goes around the outside of the whole story)

4. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Frame Story: I DO Example
The Princess Bride
Frame Story: Young boy is home in bed sick. His grandfather comes over to keep him company and decides to read him a story.
Story-within-the-Story: The story the grandfather reads to the boy—the story of Princess Buttercup and her unlikely love for a peasant named Wesley

5. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Frame Story: WE DO Example
The Notebook
Frame Story: ?
Story-within-the-Story:

6. Forest Gump How I Met Your Mother Titanic
“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Frame Story: YOU DO Examples
Titanic
How I Met Your Mother
Forest Gump

7. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Humor Techniques
Exaggeration/Embellishment
An oblivious narrator who takes a serious tone: adds humor by suggesting that the teller of the tale is unaware of the humor of the story or its ridiculousness
Example: Friends—”The One with the Inappropriate Sister”
Rachel's boyfriend doesn't understand the inappropriateness of his relationship with his sister (while everyone else easily realizes that their relationship is super weird, and that adds humor to the situation)
Regional Dialect: the version of a language specific to a particular region; regional dialects reflect accents, word pronunciations, idioms, speech patterns, grammar misuses, etc.
Examples: Midwestern, Southern, East-Coast, Canadian,
West-Coast, etc.

8. “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—Vocabulary
Vocabulary Builder Words:
Garrulous (adj.)— too talkative
Conjecture (v.)— to guess
Monotonous (adj.)— boring because of lack of variety;
one-toned
Interminable (adj.)— seeming never-ending
Ornery (adj.)— having a mean, cranky disposition