Literature Circle

Pages 50-155

Director: Are there any words that might need clarifying from our last read?

Vocabulary Enricher: Yes, I have found a word that I would like to focus on. The word is chortling on page 97. Catherine used the word when she was describing what her guinea pigs were doing after she fed them carrots given to her from Jason. This word means to laugh in a breathy, gleeful way.

Director: It seems that Jason and Catherine have made a very special friendship.

Literary Luminary: Yes, they have, but it seems to be more complicated than that. We see Catherine often notices the people that are looking at her when she interacts with David. This happens when they first begin their friendship, continues as they zip around the parking lot and when they take a walk to the water. I wonder if she is embarrassed or being protective?

Connector: When she is walking back with Jason from the beach, she stares back at a person that stares at Jason. I would consider this to being protective. When she gets stares from everyone in the waiting room at the clinic, she is embarrassed. A theme is becoming more obvious as we progress in the parallel relationships Catherine is having with Jason and Kristi, that Catherine is learning to find herself and to do what is best for her.

Researcher: When Catherine shows signs of being protective, this has to do with people looking at Jason’s, or David’s, disability instead of looking at them as a person. Or to not look at them because of their disabilities. Sometimes people show pity or sometimes they mock the disability and this upsets Catherine a lot. I found a video on YouTube that I feel will illuminate this more called “Self-Determination Youth Credo” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrNy_2ljVdo)