93 pages • 3 hours read
William BellCrabbe
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
Crabbe
- Genre: Fiction; young adult adventure/coming-of-age
- Originally Published: 1986
- Reading Level/Interest: Grades 7-12
- Structure/Length: 24 numbered journal entries with occasional “Digressions”; approx. 169 pages
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Franklin Crabbe is 18 and is disillusioned with his family and his schooling in Toronto; an attempt to escape his well-to-do lifestyle by running away to the wilderness quickly demonstrates what he lacks in self-sufficiency and survival skills. The novel is a first-person narrative in which Crabbe tells his story after returning to civilization.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Alcohol consumption; profanity; physical violence and assault; death
William Bell, Author
- Bio: Born in 1945; Canadian writer of fiction and picture books; former English teacher in Canada and China; has written 19 published works of young adult fiction; earned the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award (for Stones, 2002) and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award (for Five Days of the Ghost, 1992; Stones, 2003)
- Other Works: Metal Head (1987); Forbidden City (1990); Zack (1998); The Blue Helmet (2006); Julian (2014)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- The Quest for Identity and Autonomy
- The Relationship Between Humanity and Nature
- The Value(s) of Education
- Actions Versus Words
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
- Analyze how the text’s allusion to Athena adds meaning to Crabbe’s journey.
