After Ever After

(Sonnenblick, Jordan. After ever after . New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print.)

Summary: In the sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, Jeffrey is an eighth grader in remission. In the aftereffects of treatment, Jeffrey struggles with school (especially math), and to walk without limping (but finds great joy in riding his bike). His parents are worried about him and his older brother, Steven, Jeffrey's main support system and confidant, has taken off to Africa to "find himself"  while drumming. Jeffrey is also dealing with his best friend, Tad, who is hatching a secretive plan while hiding a life changing secret from Jeffrey and he has met a new girl from California who is, surprisingly to Jeffrey, interested in him.

Reading Level: Ages 11-14, Lexile 940.

Key words/phrases:

    1. Cancer

    2. Best Friends

    3. Academic Struggles – Middle School

    4. Overcoming Physical Challenges

    5. Death of a friend

Suggested Delivery: Small Group: Independent read / small group

Electronic Resources:

    1. Scholastic After Ever After Video Booktalk is a video which could be used before students read tghe book to see if they might be interested in reading it.

2. Kids Health For Kids What is Cancer? is a website whihc provides information on cancer aimed at kids which would help the student gain a better understanding of the experience Jeffrey is going through. It would also give additional information to students who are interested in learning more about cancer.

Teaching Suggestions:

   1. Key Vocabulary: Remission, lymphocyte lymphoma, radiation, chemotherapy,

   2. Reading Strategies to increase comprehension:

         Before: Begin by giving a book talk summarizing the prequel, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. Explain who Jeffrey is, who the other characters are that are related to After Ever After (his parents, brother Steven, Stevens teachers) and the key events that happen to Jeffery in this story. Then have students make individual KWL charts filling in what they know about Jeffrey, his experience with cancer, and cancer in general, and what they want to find out about Jeffrey and his life by reading the book.

         During: After each chapter, or couple of chapters, have students fill out the What They Learned column and write answers to the areas or questions they had in their Want to Learn column.
        After: Students in a small group can discuss the events that Jeffrey went through, how Jeffrey dealt with Tad's death, how they felt when Tad died, and how they would have dealt with the death of Tad. Have student check if everything from their Want to Learn column was brought up and answered in the book. If it was not, discuss why the author may have decided not to mention a topic or only focused on certain areas. Compare to the areas the author did focus on and discuss why.  Have students discuss how they feel about the events of the story as they unfolded and the ending. Is this a hopeful story or a sad story?  

   3. Writing activity demonstrating inferential comprehension: Have students create a Voki (http://www.voki.com) as one of the main characters (Jeffrey, Tad, Lindsey, for example). The students Voki would create a reading hook written from their chosen characters point of view. Before they create the Voki, they should write out what their Voki is going to say using a graphic organizer. Their summary should include the who, what, where, when, and why of the story as well as a final hook statement which would draw in other reader. All Voki's should be previewed by the teacher before publishing. The other students can then watch the Voki to see if they want to read the book.