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Young Adult Lit WebQuests

Help Wanted QUIZ
available for download in MS Word by clicking here

After reading Gary Soto’s collection of short stories, Help Wanted, use the novel and the Internet Links on the web quest to write well developed multiple paragraph essays in answer to two of the following questions/tasks. You will need to use a balanced blend of information from the book and information from the Internet. See also the rubric page .

1. Compare and Contrast protagonists from two different stories in Help Wanted using the literary concept of archetypes.

2. Gary Soto is more than just an author; he is also very active in working to better the world around him. Give examples of this from his biography and discuss how his writing reflects his view of the world around him. Be sure to refer to the annotated bibliography, as well as the reading you have done yourself.

3. Choose one of the stories from Help Wanted whose protagonists are dealing with family issues that you believe are fairly common. Discuss how these issues impact the main character and how it is or is not resolved by the story’s end.

4. Name five of the awards that Gary Soto has won for his writing, and discuss why you think Help Wanted is also deserving of recognition. Refer to at least three of the stories.

5. Help Wanted includes stories with a strong sense of place (home, neighborhood, family center). Discuss how this thread runs through much of Gary Soto’s work and how he may have been influenced by his won life growing up in Fresno, California. Be sure to look at his biography and at the annotated bibliography, in addition to considering the stories you have read in Help Wanted.

6. Choose one story from Help Wanted that you especially felt connected to and explain what significance it had for you (making connections to your own life experience). How did this story make you feel about your own life?

Check the rubric again, or go back to the main page.

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updated: February 14, 2007
December 19, 2005