Mosaic+of+Thought+Second+Edition

 Welcome to our Mosaic of Thought Book Study

Warm-up activity. //Use the discussion tab above to share your story. Share a short story of a time when you deeply understood something you read. What were you reading? What's your evidence that your understanding was deep?

Here is an example of a response to this prompt: //

**I//t's a terrible cliche, I guess, but the first book I remember connecting with deeply was -- yep -- "Catcher in the Rye." When my uncle passed away suddenly at only 32, his mother packed up his books and sent them to me. I was about 13. In the box, mixed among lurid adventure novels and a few early 1950s literary works, was a first edition of Catcher. I'd never heard of the book (this was 1960!) and it certainly wasn't in my junior high library.

I was mesmerized by the first sentence: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap...."

Wow. And then, "...my parents would probably have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

I stayed up all night under the covers with the flashlight. I read it twice. I read it three or four more times in the next few weeks. I had never encountered a book like this. How had this teenager -- this J.D. Salinger -- managed to get it published? How did he know so much about me?

Forty years and many thousands of books later, I have yet to encounter a piece of writing that electrified me like this book. I've just finished reading "Salinger's Daughter" and confirmed that J.D. is/was a reprehensible human being by most standards. But in a day when there was no Judy Blume, no Robert Cormier, no "The Wanderers", no realistic writing for young teenage boys, he totally excited me about the possibilities of books. And I'm still excited!// **

Continue to use the discussion tab above to share your reflections as you read this book. Respond to your colleagues' comments to continue our book study discussion.

**Use the link below to participate in our District Focus Question Discussion District Focus Discussion Questions **

Additional Outside Readings:

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