Summer Reading

This summer I read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by: Gabrielle Zevin for John Carroll. I had to complete some summer reading questions. This is what I wrote:

The Book:

1.Who is the main character and what is that character’s personality like? Type a complete sentence or two that include three different adjectives that describe your character.

A:The main character in the novel was a girl named Naomi Porte. Her personality changes throughout the story. Naomi is puzzled, alone, and confused while she has amnesia. She sometimes feels happiness, sadness, and anger as she finds out information she has forgotten.

2.Most good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Type a complete sentence for each of these three parts that summarizes what happens.

A:In the beginning Naomi gets amnesia by falling down steps, she is confused and is trying to figure everything out. The middle of the story she is finding out information about herself, some information she dislikes other information she finds surprising. At the end of the novel, Naomi gets her memory back but, she has changed so much she decides not to go back to her old ways.

3.Think about the experiences that the main character has and the changes that she or he experiences by the end of the story. In a complete sentence or two, describe what you think the author is trying to say about life.

A:I think what the author is trying to say about life is that you have to be yourself; in this book Naomi wasn’t herself until after her memory was back. She realized that she hated the people she hung out with and that she just wasn’t being herself.


The Issues:

1.Explain how one of these issues affects the character(s) in the story. Write three complete sentences – either three different ways that one character is affected, or one way each that three different characters are affected.

A:One way Naomi is affected by memory loss is that for her it feels like she’s starting high school all over again. Another way Naomi is affected by memory loss is she doesn’t know anyone except her family and the kids that went to middle school with her which causes issues with her best friend (who she doesn’t remember at all). One other way Naomi was affected by memory loss is that she changes her whole personality.


2.In complete sentences, describe two specific events that make the book’s social issue(s) seem real and important. How does the author make a big issue immediate and personal?

A:One specific event that made the book’s social issues seem real and important is when she ran away to California to see her boyfriend. She thought her dad wouldn’t care but she realized he did. Another specific event that made the book’s social issues seem real and important is when she realized that she was hanging out with a bunch of people who hated her just so she could be popular. Her amnesia helped her figure out that she wasn’t being herself.

I will not tell you what grade I got on these questions but I will tell you it was a very good grade. I hope that you will read this book. I really liked it and hope to hear comments about what you think.