For teachers We know that the Common Core State Standards are encouraging you to reevaluate the books that you assign to your students. To help you decide which books are right for your classroom, each free ebook in this series contains a Common Core–aligned teaching guide and a sample chapter. This free teaching guide for A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is designed to help you put the new Common Core State Standards into practice. "Among the very best American novels of our time."—Charlotte Observer In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary.

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen does not believe in accidents and believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying.

A Study Guide for John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

The perfect companion to John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany," this study guide contains a chapter by chapter analysis of the book, a summary of the plot, and a guide to major characters and themes.BookCap Study Guides do not contain text from the actual book, and are not meant to be purchased as alternatives to reading the book.We all need refreshers every now and then. Whether you are a student trying to cram for that big final, or someone just trying to understand a book more, BookCaps can help. We are a small, but growing company, and are adding titles every month. Visit BookCaps.com to find out more.

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany.

“Slow down. Stop multitasking. And savor this remarkable work.” —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author ofThe Power of Regret, When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human MISSING OUT ON THE LIFE YOU WANT IS NOT OKAY ANYMORE. How often do you finish the workday wondering “Really? Is this all there is?” Too many days are spent grinding through the to-do list. And even when it all gets done, those days feel more like a slog than a win. Something is missing. Maybe you feel change isn’t possible. Or worse yet, that it doesn’t matter much anymore. (Ouch.) But if you’re ready to finally do something different—to BE something different—the time to start making progress toward “better” is already on your calendar: it’s lunch. With Cheryl Johnson’s playful attitude and discipline from a decade of boxing training, Box Lunch Lifestyle delivers totally doable strategies to fuel your body, reclaim your spark, and build a life that’ll make you proud. You don’t need a gym membership, a new job, or to throw out everything in your pantry to start. You just have to decide to be your own champion. Are you ready to win back the life you deserve? Join the Box Lunch Lifestyle revolution and learn (or relearn) how to look excuses in the eye, show yourself a little mercy, and watch ordinary workdays become something quietly remarkable—one tiny-bit-rebellious lunch break at a time.

We've all spent moments of our lives chasing something. Whether it is the dog, the paperboy, a relationship, or a career, we've all been on a path looking for something or someone.But what if what you're chasing is God? How do you know if you really find Him? What does God look like? What does He sound like? And what happens after you find Him?In The Way of the Worshiper, author Buddy Owens guides readers on a path to discovering a powerful way of worship that instills a need and desire for constant communion with God. With solid biblical wisdom and insightful values, he offers readers a chance to leave behind their lifetime of searching in exchange for a lifetime of belonging to a way of worship that develops only the very best of friendship with God.

John Irving returns to the themes that established him as one of our most admired and beloved authors in this absorbing novel of fate and memory. In Avenue of Mysteries, Juan Diego—a fourteen-year-old boy, who was born and grew up in Mexico—has a thirteen-year-old sister. Her name is Lupe, and she thinks she sees what’s coming—specifically, her own future and her brother’s. Lupe is a mind reader; she doesn’t know what everyone is thinking, but she knows what most people are thinking. Regarding what has happened, as opposed to what will, Lupe is usually right about the past; without your telling her, she knows all the worst things that have happened to you. Lupe doesn’t know the future as accurately. But consider what a terrible burden it is, if you believe you know the future—especially your own future, or, even worse, the future of someone you love. What might a thirteen-year-old girl be driven to do, if she thought she could change the future? As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. As we grow older—most of all, in what we remember and what we dream—we live in the past. Sometimes, we live more vividly in the past than in the present. Avenue of Mysteries is the story of what happens to Juan Diego in the Philippines, where what happened to him in the past—in Mexico—collides with his future.

If you like books, you’ll love The Book Lover’s Devotional—a collection of 60 readings that draw engaging, contemporary spiritual points from literature. From All Quiet on the Western Front to Little House on the Prairie, from In His Steps to Pride and Prejudice, and from Christy to The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, books covered run the gamut of genres, from the 1800s to the present. Each entry features details on the book itself, and describes a moment of truth to be found in the story. “Further thought” questions encourage critical thinking about literature. If you like books, get The Book Lover’s Devotional!