The Name of This Book Is Secret

The Name of This Book Is Secret

• Genre: Fiction; middle-grade fantasy
• Originally Published: 2007
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 810L; grades 5-8
• Structure/Length: 33 chapters; approx. 360 pages; approx. 7 hours, 26 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Cass and Max-Ernest, both 11, encounter a suspicious and potentially dangerous cult called the Midnight Sun in their quest to investigate the death of a local magician. Intrusive narrator Pseudonymous Bosch sometimes addresses the reader in this story complete with riddles and code breaking.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Death; cult activity; violence

Pseudonymous Bosch (Raphael Simon), Author

• Bio: Born in 1967; grew up in Laurel Canyon, California; earned BA degree at Yale and MA degree in Comparative Literature from University of California at Irvine; teacher of creative writing and novelist of middle-grade series; wrote five novels in The Secret series under the pen name Pseudonymous Bosch; later wrote The Bad Books series under the same pseudonym; wrote The Anti-Book under his real name of Raphael Simon; currently lives in California
• Other Works: If You’re Reading This, It’s Too late (2008); This Book Is Not Good for You (2009); Bad Magic (2014); Bad Luck (2016)
• Awards: Edgar Allan Poe Award (nomination; 2008); Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award for Grades 6-8 (2011); Iowa Children’s Choice Award (nomination; 2011)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Keeping or Revealing Secrets
• Personal Differences as Innate Source of Power
• Achieving Balance Through an Understanding of Self
• Fixation on Perfection as a Corrupting Factor

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the literary and psychological contexts regarding narrative point of view and synesthesia that drive structure and motifs in the novel.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Secrets, Personal Differences, Balance, and Fixation on Perfection.
• Plan and compose a piece of creative writing that demonstrates an understanding of major character, plot, and thematic elements in the novel based on text details.
• Examine and appraise themes, characters, and narration techniques to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the role of the narrator, codes and synesthesia as major motifs, and other topics.