Strategies
The novel I selected to use is Blood Trail by Nancy Springer. There were several features I was looking for when I chose this novel. Because I wanted to focus on encouraging students to enjoy and understand the mystery genre, teaching them about the elements of a story, and increasing their desire to read for pleasure, I wanted a novel that would be fairly short and easy for them to read. Blood Trail in hard cover is one hundred and five pages with eleven short chapters. It is written on about a fifth or sixth grade reading level. This means the students will not be overwhelmed by length or difficulty as they read, and I will be more able to easily teach my objectives. After his best friend Aaron is murdered, seventeen-year-old Jeremy, nicknamed "Booger," becomes aware that he is the only person who has any idea who might be guilty of the crime. Aaron has mentioned his fear of his twin brother Nathan, but Jeremy cannot bear to think that Nathan might be guilty and he is reluctant to tell anyone of that revealing comment for many reasons.
Teachers should be aware that in response to the emotional situations of the book the protagonist uses the following words that are appropriate in his predicament: Damn, hell, bitch, ass, shit, and bastard. They suit the character's age and personality and students are certainly used to hearing them, but in some environments they might cause a problem. I will tell the students they will be in the book and appropriate to the story, but not acceptable for use in conversation in school. This presents an opportunity to discuss the use of language in literature as a vehicle for providing atmosphere and authenticity. Such words, one can say, are never used in polite conversation with adults or in a school or social situation, but only when emotions and stress are strong in a situation that is out of the protagonist's ability to handle on a rational level.
The story is very engaging to seventh graders because it is about students getting ready to enter their senior year in high school, and the murder that occurs is gory enough to appeal to their age group. The victim is stabbed over seventy times in the neck. It is also well written, having been selected as a Best Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers in the past. Nancy Springer has also just begun a new detective series, Enola Holmes, about the purported younger sister of Sherlock who solves mysteries, and I can refer students to this series as another example of the genre by the same author.
The first thing I will do to introduce the novel is give the students an Anticipatory Guide that I developed based on the themes of Blood Trail. I will distribute the Guide below, reading the statements aloud so that no one is slowed by reading ability. They will have about two or three minutes to respond. The idea is to have them respond instinctively to these themes and not think too deeply at this point, but just bring the issues to the forefront of their minds. I will collect these when they are finished, and return them after completing the book, at which time I will guide a discussion. If any discussion does occur when they respond to the Guide, my preference will be to keep it to a minimum. My purpose here is to provoke an interest in the concepts emphasized in the book. When the Guides are returned upon completion of the unit, I will be interested to hear justifications as to how and why opinions have or have not changed after our reading and activities.
Blood Trail
Agree Disagree
Snitching is always wrong.
It's okay to lie to keep out of trouble.
You should lie to protect your friends.
You can count on your family to stand by you, no matter what.
Your neighbors will "have your back" if you are in trouble.
The police can solve most crimes.
Murderers should automatically get the death penalty.
Being jealous makes people do bad things.
As long as you are not caught, it is okay to commit a crime.
You don't need to worry about anyone except the victim of a crime.
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