"Penny for the Guy" Fundraising Activity

Please help the students in English II in their current fundraising activity to benefit Catholic Charities. My sophomores will be collecting pennies and other loose change as part of a fundraising project related to "Guy Fawkes Night" and the Gunpowder Plot.

Bring in your spare change (mostly pennies, but anything will do) and donate it to a sophomore in my 5th or 7th hour classes. These students will have plastic bags to collect your offerings. You may make an anonymous donation or allow them to put your name down on their tracking sheet. For every plastic bag of pennies collected, students will be given a ticket to trade in for bonus points. I would like to see us collect at least 50 bags of pennies, but I am going to let each class set its own goal. While the primary purpose of this project is to raise money for Catholic Charities, students will also get a lesson in history and religious freedoms.

Click the links above to read more about the project and the Gunpowder Plot.

Horrible Happenings in History

I was doing some research on the BBC's website last night (more assignments for English II!) and stumbled upon a segment called "Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians." Several of the blurbs caught my eye because AP Literature has studied the Tudors and will soon be studying the Victorians. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late, I know)...

According to the mini-article by Simon Cooper & Terry Deary:

• In the reign of Henry VIII, the Bishop of Rochester upset his cook one day. So the cook got his revenge by putting a special herb in the bishop's feast that night. The herb was supposed to give the guests diarrhea. Unfortunately, two of the guests got diarrhea till they died. The cook was sent to be hanged for murder. But King Henry VIII said, 'No! hanging is too kind for that villain! I want him boiled alive in his own pot!' And that's what they did. For five years, the punishment for poisoners was to be boiled alive. What a Horribly Hot Happening!

Scroll down to read more stories by your fellow St. A students. Feel free to leave comments. Have a fun (and safe) Halloween! More Terrible Tudors weirdness at the link above.

Spooktacular Book Review

What better time of the year to curl up with a creepy book? I know time is in short supply, but taking 20-30 minutes a day to read is definitely a positive thing. If you're looking for something that is a mix of traditional literature and fun--and maybe even a little strange--then consider reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

According to irreference.com:

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.

This novel is available online, at bookstores, and even at Walmart. I've read the original novel and this one--and enjoyed them both. If you're a fan of zombies or semi-scary things--or you enjoyed the movie Shaun of the Dead, then you might enjoy this novel. It's relatively short and easy to read. It even has pictures!

Other similar novels include:

• Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
• The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts, and Zombies
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim
• The Undead World of Oz

For a little learning... A parody is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at the original work, its subject, author, etc. by means of humorous, satiric, or ironic imitation.
A pop culture connection --> think about movies like "Date Movie" and "Scary Movie" -- those are parodies.