Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Retold By Margaret Tarner

(Graded Reader)

            Including this graded reader, I have now read several abridged versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

            At some point, I need to just sit down and read the real thing, just to check it off my list.  But until now, I never have.

            Partly because as a kid I read the Fisher-Price Comic Book [LINK HERE]and listened to the accompanying cassette tape to the point of memorization, so I feel like I already know the story, and it feels less urgent to read the real book.

            And, partly because everyone I know who has read the original Frankenstein has given me a luke-warm report of it.  (I believe Frankenstein was actually required reading for History 102 back at Calvin, as an introduction to the type of thought popular for the romantic period, but I avoided that because I took History 101 instead.  But all my friends who took History 102 hated Frankenstein.  Apparently much of the book is just long boring speeches by the monster.)

Teaching Materials

[There was no glossary for this book, so I made up a list of vocab words for the first couple chapters, printed them on a paper, had the students discuss in groups which words they knew, and then later explained problematic words for the whole class.  Then the following class I gave a matching exercise on the same words.  However, as the students seemed to be understanding most of the story fine without vocab support, I stopped doing this after the first couple chapters.]

Monster

University

Geneva

Switzerland

Pupil

Examinations

Science

Germany

German

Heidelburg

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examination, Germany, German, Geneva, Heidelburg, monster, pupil, university, science, Switzerland

_______a test of a student's knowledge or skill in a particular subject which results in a qualification if the student is successful

________any imaginary frightening creature, especially one which is large and strange

________The country is situated in western Europe,[note 4] where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

________(knowledge from) the  systematic  study of the structure and behaviour of the physical world, especially by watching, measuring and doing  experiments , and the development of theories to describe the results of these activities

________ a city in Germany

________a college or collection of colleges at which people study for a degree

________ a city in Switzerland

________a person, especially a child at school, who is being taught

________A country in Europe which is bordered by Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands

________ The language and people of Germany

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Chemistry

Medicine

Dust

Life

Laboratory

Graveyards

Wrinkled

Brain

Thunder

Lightening

Metal

Wires

Flash

Sparks

Breathing

Link of the Day

Noam Chomsky & Howard Zinn "Is There Hope in This Desperate Time?"