Don’t be a bunny!

Let’s start with a scavenger hunt to introduce Of Mice and Men–our next book. Each group should record their answers here.

1) What was the price of a coat during the 1930s when the book was set and published (1937)?

2) The book takes places in Salinas, California.  What towns are near Salinas? What’s the nearest big city?

3) Explain what a bindlestiff is and what their lives were like  in the 20s and 30s.

4) John Steinbeck was a controversial writer. Explain why he was famous and why he was controvesial.

5) Where does the title Of Mice and Men come from and what does it mean?

6) Give me a few of the lyrics of a popular song written within a few years of 1937.

7) How were mentally disabled people treated during the 1930s? Give your source and be as specific as possible.

Eight) Find and name a famous painting (and the painter) that was painted in 1937.

9) Something happened to one of Steinbeck’s early drafts of Of Mice and Men. What happened?

10) How did people dress in 1937?  Find 2 pictures: 1 of well-off people and another of working class people.

Resources: Life Magazine photo archive, American Memory, National Steinbeck society, Prices: Then and Now, Surviving the Dust Bowl.

After we do that and share our answers, we’ll start reading Of Mice and Men’s first chapter.

Finally, I want to spend some time memorizing our poems.  We’ll get buddy’s to help each other and try to get up to 14 lines by the end of the day.

HW:  Read chapter 1 (pgs. 1-16) and have 14 lines memorized.