Of Mice and Men Pre-reading Research (Each answer is worth 2 points)

1.      Go to:  http://www.germanheritage.com/biographies/mtoz/steinbeck.html. Read the article and fill in the blanks with the correct information:

John Steinbeck was born in _________________, California in ______ and died in ________.    Steinbeck was educated at ______________ University.  As a child, he worked as a _____________________and____________________.   Of Mice and Men was published in _________ ; it is a tragic story of __________________________________.  Steinbeck’s most widely known work is entitled ________________.  It is about the _______________ family who travel from the impoverished ________________ and their _________________ to _________________during the economic depression of the _____________________.  A major literary figure since the 1930’s, Steinbeck took as his central theme the _______________ __________________ he saw in the _________________ and the _________________(which means [look it up online]:_____________________).  Although his characters are often trapped in an _____________________, they remain ____________________ and ___________________.

2.      Now, go to: http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html.  Read the information and answer the following questions:

·        What is the purpose of the National Steinbeck Center?

·        Where is the National Steinbeck Center located?

·        When did Steinbeck receive the Nobel Prize?

3.  Now, go to : http://sinisefans.org/mice/

·        What did Gary Sinise say after seeing the movie, “Of Mice and Men?”

·        What do you think he meant by this?

·        Read the synopsis of the movie.  Write out five things that you know now regarding what this novel will be about:

a.        

b.       

c.        

      d.

      e.

4.  Now go to   http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/aboutbannedbooks:

·        What is a challenged book? 

·        Where does Of Mice and Men rank on the most frequently challenged books during 1990- 1999?   

·        Where does John Steinbeck fall on the Top Ten Challenged Authors of 1990 – 2004? 

5.      Now go to:  http://www.marshall.edu/LIBRARY/bannedbooks/books/miceandmen.asp     Write down ALL the different reasons Of Mice and Men has been challenged:

6.  John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was written shortly after the Great Depression.  Use the following links to research the era of the Great Depression.  Discover its effects on society and what life was like for those living through this time period.  Spend 15 minutes perusing (look it up!) the sites below.  Then list 10 interesting/important facts about the Great Depression.

http://www.click2history.com/great_depression/great_depression_ch1.htm

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17451_18670_18793-53511--,00.html

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refarticle.aspx?refid=761584403

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