TEACHER’S
GUIDE
GIVING UP THE GHOST
Written by Sheri Sinykin
Fiction
(ages 10-14)—ghosts; haunted places; great-aunts; cancer; death;
Louisiana
.
•Peachtree
Publishers•Trade Hardcover •October
2007•$15.95•978-1-56145-423-5
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Thirteen-year-old
Davia is afraid of many things: death, unfamiliar places, and the chance of her
mother’s cancer returning. This
summer her fears loom even larger as she and her parents assist with the in-home
hospice care of her elderly great-aunt Mari. Everything about the sharp-tongued old woman and her romantic
but spooky
Louisiana
plantation home, Belle Foręt,
frightens Davia. And when she
encounters Emilie, the tortured ghost of a spoiled young Creole girl from the
nineteenth century, she is even more terrified. To
Davia’s surprise, Emilie seems eager to have her for a confidante, but the
ghost is unpredictable and difficult. Gradually,
Davia learn secrets about Emilie and her own family’s past from Aunt
Mari—stories of premature endings and regrets. As
the old woman’s health deteriorates, she and Davia are drawn closer. Together,
they hope to release Emilie’s spirit from Belle Foręt.
ABOUT
THIS AUTHOR
Personal: Born
May 3, 1950, in Chicago, IL.
Grew up in Sacramento, CA. Currently
lives in Madison, WI
and in Sun
Lakes, AZ.
Married mother of three
sons and one grandson. Education: Earned a B.A.
in Communications-Journalism from Stanford
University
and an MFA in Writing for
Children from Vermont
College.
Previous jobs:
Newspaper reporter, hospital PR director, assistant executive
director of a convention and visitors bureau.
Pets:
Two Tonkinese cats. A
few favorite things: Yoga,
speaking foreign languages (especially Spanish), family time, going to art
shows, traveling, theater, movies, reading, and writing.
Something few people know:
Danced in the half-time show of the 1972 Rose Bowl.
Inspiration for writing:
“An emotion or event I think I’m too terrified to write about.”
TEACHING
IDEAS
Pre-reading
Activity-
Before reading this book, discuss what students think the title, Giving
Up the Ghost, might mean. Then
ask them to record their answers to the following questions in their reading
journals:
Thematic
Connections for Class Discussion
Family Relationships: What
are Davia’s challenges in each of the following relationships:
Davia and her mother; Davia and her father; Davia and Aunt Mari; Davia
and Emilie. Imagine yourself in each
of those relationships. What might
you have done differently and why? Do
you think Davia should have gone to French camp instead of to Belle Foręt (pronounced Bell
For-AY) with her parents? What
might have been different in her life if she’d stayed away?
Fear and Courage: Discuss
what students think courage is. Is
it the absence of fear—or acting in spite of fear?
Have they ever done something that scared them?
How did they feel afterwards? Ask
them to privately brainstorm a list of things they are afraid of, as Davia does.
Is there anyone they would feel comfortable sharing their list with?
Why or why not? Ask them to
imagine sharing their list and then to write about what that experience would be
like and how they might feel.
Death and Loss: People
don’t have to die in order to be missed. Sometimes
friends move away, or parents divorce. People
can feel all kinds of confusing emotions—blame, sadness, anger, denial,
depression, even wishful thinking. Ask
students to think about any loss in their lives.
If they haven’t experienced one, ask them to imagine the loss of a
significant person, perhaps even a pet. Then
ask them to write a letter to that person, saying anything they wished they had
had a chance to say. If that person
is still alive, what might prevent the student from saying those things
face-to-face out loud? Here are some
things students might write about in their journals:
What are your personal views of what happens after a person dies?
How does that compare to what Davia’s mother believes?
Do you find comfort in either belief?
What are some things that Davia learns about the dying process that you
did not know? Are they scary or
reassuring to you? How did you feel
when you found out how Emilie died? Did
you share Davia’s reaction? Do you
think Davia will ever become a doctor? Why
or why not? Do you have someone in
your life you could talk to about all your fears?
If not, how might you go about finding such a person?
Guilt: The
emotion of guilt may be defined in two ways: “the remorseful awareness of
having done something wrong” and/or “self-reproach for supposed inadequacy
or wrongdoing.” Sometimes people feel “guilty,” but haven’t really done anything
“wrong.” Other times, people
might be aware they have done wrong, but not feel sorry about it.
Often people judge themselves and a situation too harshly, and
“guilt” is misplaced. Ask
students to discuss how aspects of guilt affect the book’s characters.
Which one(s) really “did something wrong and felt sorry about it”?
Which one(s) felt guilty, but didn’t really do anything wrong?
Ask students to think about one or more times they might have felt
guilty. Then ask them to examine
whether they experienced “true guilt” or misplaced guilt, and to write about
their conclusions in their journal.
Forgiveness: Discuss
students’ views about forgiveness before reading the book, and whether their
views changed afterwards. Whose job
is it to do the forgiving? What is
the value of forgiveness? Is there
something or someone you have forgiven—or still need to forgive?
What do you think would be the hardest thing to forgive?
Who would be the hardest person to forgive?
Pretend you have decided to forgive someone.
In your journal, write a letter to this person. What
would you say? Why would you say
this? How do you feel after writing
the letter?
Interdisciplinary
Connections
Language Arts: Various
elements and images repeat throughout the novel.
Ask students to identify some of these “narrative patternings” and
discuss what they might bring to the story (eg. clocks, the color yellow, Wizard
of Oz imagery, Aunt Mari’s brass box).
Discuss how the author uses weather to affect mood.
Aunt Mari teaches Davia to ask when she doesn’t understand a word’s
meaning. Make a list of any words
from the book that might have been new to you.
Then ask someone—or use a dictionary—to find out what they mean.
Use each one in a sentence in your reading journal.
Sometimes the author uses a simile
(something “was like” something else) or a metaphor
(usually a direct statement of what something is,
when it isn’t literally that other thing) to make a comparison.
For these comparisons to make sense, a reader needs to understand both
parts of the sentence. Can you find
three examples of similes or metaphors and write out another way the author
might have said the same thing? Ask
students to write a letter to the author in which they say how the book affected
them, what they think will happen to Davia in the future, and one question they
would like the author to answer. Tell
students they may submit their letters through the author’s website (www.sherisinykin.com,
using the Contact Me page) and she will personally answer the most unique
questions.
Health: Davia
has asthma. Ask students whether
they know anyone else who has asthma. Discuss
what kinds of things can bring on an attack.
What are the symptoms of an asthma attack?
If they think someone is having an attack, what could or should they do
to help? How and why do students
think Emilie helps Davia with her asthma? Is
this realistic or fantastic? In
general, do students think Davia can “breathe easier” by the end of the
book? Why or why not?
Recent History: Though
this novel was first written before Hurricane Katrina, through revision, the
disaster has come to play an important role in the story.
What are some of the “before” and “after” changes the author
probably had to make? How did
Hurricane Katrina affect Davia and her parents?
Ask students what they might know or remember about Hurricane Katrina.
What do they think has happened in
New Orleans
since the disaster?
Ask them to research to see if they are correct in their assumptions.
Empathy plays an important
role in helping children learn to live together in peace, without bullying.
Ask students to imagine and write about what it might have been like to
have lived in
New Orleans
when the hurricane hit. Can
they read about or imagine another part of the world and what it must be like
now to be a child there? Discuss
some ways students might help disaster victims in the
Gulf
Coast
region or anywhere else.
Past History: Davia
and Aunt Mari call the war that led to the emancipation of the slaves by two
different names. What are they?
Discuss what “point of view” means.
How does that term affect what each character calls the same war?
Divide students into small co-op groups.
Assign each group a theme or “point of view”—
Europe
,
Asia
,
South America
, science and medicine, the arts, the
United States
.
Ask each group to make a timeline of important happenings between the
building of Belle Foręt in 1838 and
end of the war in 1865. Then combine
all these events into one “master timeline.”
Discuss students’ reactions to seeing history through more than one
point of view.
Civics:
Discuss what the U.S. Constitution is and how and why it can be amended.
What is the Bill of Rights? Amendments
13 (1865), 14 (1868), and 15 (1870) were added soon after the Civil War/War
Between the States. What rights do
they guarantee? The Thirteenth
Amendment was ratified by 27 of the then 36 states.
Ask students to research which states did not ratify it in 1865.
In what years did which three states become the last ones to ratify this
Amendment? Which Amendment gives
women the right to vote and when was it added?
Which Amendment gives eighteen-year-olds the right to vote?
When and why was it added? What
does the most recent amendment, the 27th enacted in 1992, guarantee?
Discuss whether and how the Constitution should be amended again.
Ask students to write about their views.
[Two
of a Myriad of Internet Resources: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.table.html#amendments;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution]
Foreign Language: Several
French expressions are included in the novel.
Make a list of them and what they mean.
Since French is not a language that is easily sounded out, pronounce
these words for the students. If you
need help, use a French dictionary, ask a French teacher or e-mail the author.
Brainstorm ways students could find out how to say the same thing in
another language besides English. Davia’s
mother uses the trick of “counting to ten in hard languages” when she is
angry or frustrated. Name some of
these languages. On the map, find
the country or part of the world where people speak those “hard languages.”
Ask students to find out how to count to ten in a language that is new to
them. Discuss whether students think
it is a good idea to learn another language.
Why or why not? When might
knowing another language come in handy? Where
might English be considered a foreign language?
The Arts: The Wizard of Oz (the version released in 1939) is Davia’s favorite movie.
How does the film affect her observations of what is happening at Belle
Foręt? Which character does
Davia identify with? Ask students to
discuss or write about which main character they would identify with—Dorothy,
the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, or the Cowardly Lion—and why. The
movie is based on the book, The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz, published in 1900 by L. (Lyman) Frank Baum.
As a class, read the first chapter of the book.
Discuss whether students want the teacher to keep reading.
Why or why not? What do
students notice about the writing style of this book, written over one hundred
years ago, that has inspired many other books and films? Gregory
Maguire’s recent novel Wicked has
even been turned into a Broadway musical. It
is the Oz story told from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Ask the students to imagine—or research—how that point of view is
different from the traditional one, told through Dorothy’s eyes.
Copyright 2007 by Sheri Sinykin
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