Vote for Larry

Book menu for Vote for Larry by Janet Tashjian

ISBN of copy I read:  0805072012 (hardcover)

Food mentioned in Vote for Larry
Coffee, 8, 80 138, 195
Trail mix, 44
Gum, 44
Egg omelet with salsa, 45
Bagels, 49
Baked bean supper, 91
Apple pie, 99
Pizza, 106, 185
Soda, 131, 174
Raspberries, 145
Mexican, 160
Birthday cake, 164
Jello, 175
Chinese takeout, 176
   Peking Ravioli, 176
Tomato juice, 179
Peanut butter, 188
Burrito, 198
Popcorn, 198, 212
Pistachios, 219
Starbucks, 74

Movies/Television/Radio mentioned in Vote for Larry
The Fugitive, 59
Simpsons , 121
The Three Stooges , 142
Saturday Night Live, 159
A Charlie Brown , 169
National Public Radio (NPR), 189
Matlock
Monty Python, 58
   Dead Parrot sketch, 160
James Bond , 28
Planet's Funniest Animals, 34

Music mentioned in Vote for Larry
Beck, 7
Santana, 7
Samples, 9
Jimi Hendrix, 12
Joni Mitchell , 12
Marvin Gaye, 12
U2, 12
The Beatles , 89
   "Ticket to Ride"
Gospel, 103
Pink Floyd , 105
   "Money"
Dashboard Confessional, 123
No Doubt, 123
John Mayer, 124
Foo Fighters, 124
The White Stripes, 124
Sheryl Crow, 124
Norah Jones, 124, 128
Avril Lavigne , 125
Cold Play, 125
Sting, 128
Aerosmith, 128
Moby , 128
Neil Young, 128
   "Rockin' in the free world"
Jimmy Buffett, 132

Woody Guthrie, 147
   "This Land is Your Land"
Bob Dylan , 76, 105 189, 215

Books mentioned in Vote for Larry
Walden, 144, 146
   Civil Disobedience, 144
   Walden, 15
George Orwell, 170
The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, 24
Lonely Planet guides, 80


Art mentioned in Vote for Larry
Jackson Pollock, 47

Media mentioned in Vote for Larry
Boston Globe
Hardball (television program), 176
Crossfire (television program), 176
The O'Reilly Factor (television program), 176

People mentioned in Vote for Larry
Martin Luther King, Jr. , 3, 32
Immanuel Kant, 5
Friedrich Nietzsche, 5
Senator Paul Wellstone, 51, 60, 190
George Bush, 98
John Kerry, 98
Ralph Nader, 98, 143
Howard Dean, 98
Edward Abbey, 111
Rosa Parks, 155
Cesar Chavez, 155
John McCain, 157
Jim Hightower, 203

Places mentioned in Vote for Larry
Massachusetts
Walden Pond, 69
Boulder, CO
   Mount Sanitas, 90
Maine

Vocabulary in Vote for Larry
*With children's and young adult literature I like to note good challenging vocabulary.  I am a big fan of and advocate for contemporary fiction for young people. When working as the librarian at a private middle/high school a few years ago, the head of the English department thought many of the new fiction titles I was ordering were too "juvenile" and too short.  Ever since then I keep track of challenging vocabulary and passages with good literary elements (similes, metaphors, etc)!

dissipated, 6
ethology, 6, 145
aural, 12
jettison, 12
diametrically, 20, 88
emblazoned, 20
periphery, 30
disconcerting, 31
mondegreen, 33
rankled, 34
animosity, 37
non sequitur, 44
gregarious, 46
interloper, 49
phalanx, 58
audacity, 62
absconding, 74
accolade, 84
vilify, 88
stalwarts, 93
palatable, 95
disparaging, 98
woefully, 98
montage, 104
quibble, 107
gaunlet, 108
Tawdry, 116
catapulted, 121
adulation, 128
echelon 131
catatonic, 137
insufferable, 143, 169
volition, 153
insurmountable, 155
trepidation, 166
disenfranchising, 174
deftly, 176
venomous, 209

Similes in Vote for Larry
"I stood in front of my house like a petrified tree.", 35
"The crowd descended on me like a pack of hyenas.", 62
"I paced around the room like a cheetah being crated for the zoo.", 184

Major Subject in Vote for Larry
Activism

Miscellaneous References in Vote for Larry
Ganesh, 37
Vision quests, 41
Transcendentalist movement, 43
sticky notes, 53, 54, 64,113
Bloomingdale's 84
yoga, 90
rockthevote.org, 98
Mean People Suck T-shirt, 167
moveon.org
cribbage, 216

Activity ideas for Vote for Larry

• Read  and hold related events that coincide with local, state, or federal elections
• Have a bumper sticker and/or campaign button design contest
• "Sticky notes" are prominent in this story. Have book club members/students write down their favorite passages on their own sticky notes. Post the notes on classroom/meeting room wall.

Libraries:
page 83

Discussable quotes from Vote for Larry

"Please respect my silence. It's my personal statement to combat the barrage of words that assault us each day.", 7

"How can you take part in this vibrant culture of ours and honor your principles? How do you balance the stimulation of the outside world with the tranquility of your interior landscape?, 14

"There are so many problems in the world, I wouldn't know where to start?" (Josh to Beth, p31). Where would you start?

"...for someone my age, the threats were greater. I would be eighteen soon, eligible for the draft if it was ever reinstated. I didn't want to go to war--ever. Spend days and nights trying to kill other guys my age? No thanks.  The longer I sat in the darkness, the more I realized how necessary it was to get deeply involved in what was going on in this country.", 43

"When the Iroquois used to make decisions, they asked themselves how the result would affect the next seven generations. Has anyone been thinking that far ahead?", 170

Questions about Vote for Larry

How does the epigraph on page 3 relate to the story? ("Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.")

Compare Janine to Josh's mother.  Compare Janine to Beth.

How did you feel about the many footnotes throughout this book?

What do you think about the oath of not speaking for a day?

How do you feel about consumerism? About Josh's philosophy of only owning a certain number of possessions. Could you do it?

Do you think Josh is too hard on himself? Why or why not?