Tabor+2

//Water for Elephants//

- Gruen, S. (2006). //Water for elephants//. (Roughcut ed., p. 335). New York, NY: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ISBN: 1565124995

- __Water for Elephants__ was written by Sara Gruen and received the 2007 Alex Award for young adults. The book is told in a sequence of memories by 93 year man names Jacob Jankowski. The book starts off with Jacob being a young man leaning of the tragic accident his parents were killed in. After he learns of this incident and becomes depressed he joins the circus to work as a vet. At the circus he falls in love with a woman that is married and the husband becomes very furious and takes his anger out on them when he become suspicious of the activity. Jacob fights back in many ways and soon finds reliance on the elephant, Rosie. As the story is told, the readers find out many memories of Jacob and the circus, but still find Jacob waiting in the nursing home.

- I really enjoyed this book because it caught my attention and made me want to keep reading. The love relationship was very entertaining and made me curious to see how it ended. I am glad it was revealed that Jacob and Marlena become married to each other. I think young adult girls would really like reading the book because it is a love story.

- Curriculum Connection: 9th and 10th grade CCR: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Throughout this text we see how Jacob become the man he is today and it takes the readers back in the memories that take place in Jacob’s life.

- Genre: Drama

- Strategy 19- Quick Writes: Integrating Language for Understanding Text could be used when reading __Water for Elephants__. It is important for students to complete quick writes before, during, and after reading the text.

Before reading: Introduce the question: What are memories? Do you have any specific memories that lead up to where you are today? The students will respond to these questions in a quick write.

During reading: The students will write down certain memories that are important to focus on how the character is developing.

After reading: Have students reflect on their own memories and compare them to Jacob’s. The students will evaluate how the memories developed them as a person and Jacob as a person.