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Title: Parrot in the Oven
Author: Victor Martinez
Grade: Ninth
Length of unit: 6 weeks
Submitted by: L. Delaney: Skyline High School
Overview of unit:
Victor Martinez won the National Book Award for Literature
in 1997 for Parrot in the Oven, the engaging coming-of-age
story of Manny Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old Mexican-American
growing up in Fresno, California.
Students read the novel in class taking notes on the author's
strategies used to create Manny. By the completion of the
reading and charting, every student should be well aware
that Mr. Martinez primarily uses dialogue, interior monologue
and action to create the character.
Finally, the students answer the essential question, "How
does an author create a character?" in a well-developed
essay.
Early in the novel, Manny's father gets his gun and threatens
to shoot his wife. In an optional
sub-unit, students research the statistics and arguments
regarding the presence of guns in our lives, watch a video
of Oakland students discussing the issue, and write persuasive
essays answering the essential question, "What is the
role of guns in our society?"
link to Resources
Essential questions:
- How does an author create a character?
How does Victor Martinez create Manny?
- What is the role of guns in our society?
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