Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

When Clay Jensen receives a box of audio tapes in the mail from the girl he had a crush on, he is led through the reasons why she committed suicide.  Hannah Baker explained her thirteen reasons to thirteen people who played a role in her death.  The audio tapes make their way from person to person like a chain letter. 

This book has had so many accolades that I really wanted to like it. Asher's writing style is interesting and engaging, but the premise of the book is heavy-handed.  The device of the audio tapes is a unique way to have a deceased character in the story, but it often feel contrived and does not effectively convey Hannah's emotional state. As an adult reader, Hannah's reasons struck me as very temporary and not cause for self-harm.  I realize that many teenagers can not see past this moment and the problems they encounter are often overwhelming. For that reason,  I think that teen readers would relate to many of the problems Hannah had and it would make for an interesting discussion with their reactions.

Interest/Reading Level: Grades 11-12

Georgia Performance Standards:

ELAACRAC3 The student synthesizes content information and stylistic devices from the reading to demonstrate improvement in writing.

ELA12LSV2 The student formulates reasoned judgments about written and oral communication in various media genres. The student delivers focused, coherent, and polished presentations that convey a clear and distinct perspective, demonstrate solid reasoning, and combine traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description.

Activities: Students come up with their own idea of how a character communicates from beyond the grave through non-paranormal means.  With so many media choices available, students can choose one medium or a variety of mediums working together. For example, a blog with scheduled posts that are published after death, videos that can be found only through scavenger hunt clues sent through the postal service, the possibilities are unlimited!

Two class periods would be needed for this project.  Class one - group discussion of the use of the cassettes as a literary device, rate it's effectiveness, discuss why or why not.  Students begin working on their own short story using their chosen device.  If necessary, students continue working on the story as homework. The story should be at least one page, should set up the device to work in the story, and may be part of a larger story.