English 9 Unit 4: Insivible by Pete Hautman Guiding Question: To what extent does a work of literature have value for

study in our school curriculum? Rationale: ? (That s part of the unit goal) Novel Synopsis: 17-year old Douglas Hanson is not the typical heroic main character of a novel. He s socially invisible at his high school, builds model train villages in his basement, and doesn t have any friends. Except for one football star Andy Morrow. Invisible is the story of these two unlikely best friends, and about Doug navigating the difficult waters of high school social life. There is more to both their stories than seems at first. Before We Start: Your final assessment in this unit will be a position paper (thesis) where you answer the unit s guiding question using Invisible as evidence to support your thesis, as well as one other book you have read, either in school or personally. Over the course of the unit, you will use your study of the novel s characters, conflict, plot events, and point of view to gather evidence that will eventually support your position as to whether or not this novel is valuable to study in our school curriculum. You should also be thinking of another story which you can use for your essay. See the back for opening Day survey questions

Survey Questions Answer individually, then we will discuss as a class What makes a book valuable to read in school?

Why are the books we read in school chosen to be read?

What kinds of things in a story make you uncomfortable?

Can you think of a story which was told from a different point of view than yours? What was that experience like?