Verango 1

Axcel Verango

Mr. Frieden

EH2 Period 1

17 September 2019

Outside Reading Assignment

1) Describe the character/person who changed the most from the beginning of the book to

the end of the book. Explain the change and what caused it.

Conor, the main character, changed the most from the beginning of the book to the end of

the book in my opinion. I learn at the beginning of the story that Conor’s mother is having a

battle against Leukemia. The Yew tree, also known as the monster referred to in the title,

basically givesConor 3 life-lessons to learn from and leaves one last one for him to experience

and tell the monster about it. All his emotions he’s bottled up throughout the story eventually

bursts and we learn the truth about what Conor actually feels towards the end of the story.

2) What’s the author’s purpose?

I feel like the author's purpose of this story is that it’s sometimes okay for you to do

something “bad” for a good reason. For instance, some people would rather put their pet down

rather than keeping them alive and ill because they don’t want them to suffer anymore.
 Verango 2

3) Who do you think is the intended audience?

For a book with such a deep meaning and life-lesson embedded into it, I feel like it’s

mainly intended for grades 8-10. The author’s purpose is more of a 9-10 grade level whereas the

sort of language being used is more of a grade 8-9.

4) Make 2 REAL-WORLD connections to your book.

I believe that what Conor learned at the end of the book is similar to what some people in

the world are going through right now, the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression,

and acceptance). Both face/d the different stages of grief when they are about to or already have

lost a loved one. To add onto that thought, Conor also faces another things that many other

people face, bullying. It’s pretty sad but it’s true that many people, primarly younger people, face

bullying due to stupid reason that they can’t control most of the time.

5) Make 1 Connection to something else you have read.

As I was reading this story, I realized towards the end that the main idea is somewhat

similar to a story known as Robin Hood. Both stories deal with the idea of doing bad for good

reasons. For instance, in ​A Monster Calls​ Conor wants his mom to die already because he

doesn’t want her to suffer anymore from the sickness and in Robin Hood, he steals money and

food from the rich to give to the poor.