Flowers for Algernon
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Title: Flowers for Algernon
Author: Daniel Keyes
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 320
Lexile level: 910L
Grade level: 6th
Interest level: 7th - 12th
Charlie Gordon works very hard at the Beekman School for Retarded Adults. In fact, Miss Kinnian believes that he is her best pupil because he wants to learn and be smart so much despite his low IQ. When Charlie is selected for an experimental surgery that should increase his intelligence, he journals about how wonderful it will be when he is smart like his friends at the bakery, where he works, and like his mom always wanted him to be.
Just as the experiment had been so far successful for Algernon, the lab rat, it showed to be successful for Charlie, too! He finally beats Algernon at maze races, learns all of the rules of grammar over-night, and begins solving problems at work. But he doesn't feel as wonderful as he thought he would when he begins to see things in a different way. Suddenly, his friends don't seem so friendly, and the memories of his mom become clearer. He's feeling things he's never felt before and running out of people to discuss his thoughts, ideas and feelings with at his new advanced intellectual levels.
The teaching opportunities that come with this book are endless.
There
are sexual themes in this book that may be inappropriate for students.
These parts can simply be removed without losing important plot points,
but there is also the option of reading the original 1959 novella instead. All of the above would still apply.Author: Daniel Keyes
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 320
Lexile level: 910L
Grade level: 6th
Interest level: 7th - 12th
Charlie Gordon works very hard at the Beekman School for Retarded Adults. In fact, Miss Kinnian believes that he is her best pupil because he wants to learn and be smart so much despite his low IQ. When Charlie is selected for an experimental surgery that should increase his intelligence, he journals about how wonderful it will be when he is smart like his friends at the bakery, where he works, and like his mom always wanted him to be.
Just as the experiment had been so far successful for Algernon, the lab rat, it showed to be successful for Charlie, too! He finally beats Algernon at maze races, learns all of the rules of grammar over-night, and begins solving problems at work. But he doesn't feel as wonderful as he thought he would when he begins to see things in a different way. Suddenly, his friends don't seem so friendly, and the memories of his mom become clearer. He's feeling things he's never felt before and running out of people to discuss his thoughts, ideas and feelings with at his new advanced intellectual levels.
Then Algernon begins to regress.
What does that mean for Charlie?
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The teaching opportunities that come with this book are endless.
- There is the obvious discussion of what intelligence is versus what emotional intelligence is.
- Students can explore how Charlie's perspective changes throughout the story and why.
- Your students can analyze how Charlie's writing progressed throughout the first half of the story and the effect it had on their perspective of him and his experiences.
- You can use his early passages for grammar practice.
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