This document provides summaries and additional resources for five novels and one short story collection: 1) A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks is a historical novel set in 1666 when a village in England quarantines itself to stop the spread of plague. 2) Angels & Demons by Dan Brown is a thriller involving a secret brotherhood called the Illuminati threatening the Vatican. 3) Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr is the first novel in the Anna Pigeon series featuring a park ranger investigating murder. 4) Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver is a novel about climate change set in rural Appalachia involving the discovery of a strange fire. 5) Ship

1. A Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks
Summary: This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Eyam, the “Plague
Village,” tucked in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, when an infected bolt of
cloth carries plague from London to the isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners,
a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna’s
eyes the reader follows the story of the plague year, as her fellow villagers make an
extraordinary choice: convinced by a visionary young minister they elect to quarantine
themselves within the village boundaries to arrest the spread of the disease. As the death
toll rises and people turn from prayers and herbal cures to sorcery and murderous witch-
hunting, Anna must confront the deaths of family, the disintegration of her community,
and the lure of illicit love. Explor[es] love and learning, fear and fanaticism, and the
struggle of science and religion to interpret the world at the cusp of the modern era
(author’s website).
Author’s website: http://geraldinebrooks.com/the-books/year-of-wonders/
Article: author interview:
http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=677
Lit Lovers: A Well-Read Community Online: (summary, author bio, reviews, discussion
questions): http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/1191-year-of-wonders-
brooks
Book Browse: Your Guide to Exceptional Books, “Reading Guide Questions”
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/879/year-
of-wonders#reading_guide
Articles about the history of the plague:
 National Geographic (basic facts)
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-
diseases/plague-
article/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20140724_rw_membership_n1p_
us_se_c1#
 History.com: http://www.history.com/topics/black-death
 NPR (current outbreaks)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/07/24/334440738/shades-of-the-
middle-ages-the-plague-popped-up-in-china-and-colorado
 Eye Witness to History.com: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm
 BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_01.shtml

2.  Science Museum of London: Brought to Life:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/publichealth/blackdeath.a
spx
 Jewish History http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-black-death/
Videos about the history of the plague:
 The Discovery Channel: “Filthy Cities: Medieval London” (2:44)
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/filthy-cities-black-
death.htm
 PBS News Hour http://video.pbs.org/video/2153265761/ (6:21)
 PBS Secrets of the Dead: Unearthing History, “Mystery of the Black Death”
http://documentarystorm.com/the-mystery-of-the-black-death/ (55:18)
Images of Eyam Village: http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/outandabout/eyam.htm
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Summary: “When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a
Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol — seared into the chest of a
murdered physicist — he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an
ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati… the most powerful underground
organization ever to walk the earth.
The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary
vendetta against its most hated enemy… the Catholic Church.
Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican’s holy conclave, when a
messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very
heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces
with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a
desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted
cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra
follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-
forgotten Illuminati lair… a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican
salvation.
An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies
to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war…” (author’s
website).

3. Book Browse: Your Guide to Exceptional Books, “Reading Guide Questions”
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/312/angels-
demons
Lit Lovers: A Well-Read Community Online: (summary, author bio, reviews, discussion
questions): http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/60-angels-and-demons-
brown
Video: Fr. Robert Barron on Angels and Demons (7:59)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=672-YIixU74
Article: Catholic Answers: To Explain and Defend the Faith, “Dan Brown Rushes in Where
Angles (and Demons) Fear to Tread” by Carl Olsen:
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/dan-brown-rushes-in-where-angels-and-
demons-fear-to-tread
Podcast and Transcript:NPR: Illuminati: Pet Villains Strike Again In 'Demons' by Karen
Grisby Gates, May 14, 2009 (4:27):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104107549
Track of the Cat: Anna Pigeon 1 by Nevada Barr
Description: Anna Pigeon takes a job as a park ranger looking for peace in the wilderness-
but finds murder instead.
Author’s website: http://www.nevadabarr.com/bkap01_track_of_cat.htm
Article/website: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist by Margot Kinberg, “In the Spotlight:
Nevada Barr’s Track of the Cat” http://margotkinberg.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/in-the-
spotlight-nevada-barrs-track-of-the-cat/
Article/Interview: BookThink: http://www.bookthink.com/0128/128pet1.htm
Article/Biography: Mississippi Writers Page:
http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/barr_nevada/
Photo gallery and short videos profiles: National Park Service, “Guadalupe Mountains:
National Park: Texas” http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm
 Photo gallery: http://www.nps.gov/gumo/photosmultimedia/photogallery.htm

4.  Video Profiles: “Salt Basin Dunes,” “Pratt Cabin,” and “Frijole Ranch”:
http://www.nps.gov/gumo/photosmultimedia/video-profiles.htm
Mountain lion facts, images, audio: National Geographic:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mountain-lion/
Taking Flight by Barbara Kingsolver
Summary: Flight Behavior transfixes from its opening scene, when a young woman's narrow
experience of life is thrown wide with the force of a raging fire. In the lyrical language of
her native Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver bares the rich, tarnished humanity of her
novel's inhabitants and unearths the modern complexities of rural existence. Characters
and reader alike are quickly carried beyond familiar territory here, into the unsettled
ground of science, faith, and everyday truces between reason and conviction.
Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she
accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony
on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary
escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man. As she hikes up a mountain road
behind her house to a secret tryst, she encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested
valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire.
She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other
explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media. The bewildering emergency
draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists,
sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome. As the community
lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church,
her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth that could undo all she has ever
believed.
Flight Behavior takes on one of the most contentious subjects of our time: climate change.
With a deft and versatile empathy Kingsolver dissects the motives that drive denial and
belief in a precarious world (publisher).
Author’s website: http://www.kingsolver.com/books/
Lit Lovers: A Well-Read Community Online (summary, author bio, reviews, discussion
questions): http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8988-flight-behavior-
kingsolver

5. Book Browse: Your Guide to Exceptional Books, “Reading Guide Questions”
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/2788/flight-
behavior#reading_guide
Podcast: Free Library of Philadelphia:
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/index.cfm?podcastID=1037
Video: National Geographic (2:24):
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/butterfly_monarch
Video:Transom.org: A Showcase & Workshop for New Public Radio, “Google Earth Tour:
Monarch Butterflies” (12:17) http://transom.org/2013/google-earth-tour-monarch-
butterflies/
Video: Discovery Chanel, “Monarch Butterfly Winter Migration” (1:58):
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/life/videos/monarch-butterfly-winter-migration.htm
NPR, interview: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/09/164797149/climate-change-takes-flight-
in-new-novel
Video: Harper Books, “Barbara Kingsolver Discuses Her New Novel Flight Behavior” (2:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBX7SxzADtw
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalup
Summary: “In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken
down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring
just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he
discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the
most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone
survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . .” (publisher).
Author’s website (links to many interviews) http://windupstories.com/

6. Hachette Book Group, “Educator’s Guide: Ship Breaker”
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/_assets/guides/EG_9780316056212.pdf
Article: SLJ interview: http://blogs.slj.com/teacozy/2010/12/06/interview-paolo-
bacigalupi/
Article: National Book Foundation interview:
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010_ypl_bacigalupi_interv.html#.U9MYGbGwXLI
Article: Presenting Lenore interview:
http://presentinglenore.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/author-interview-and-giveaway-paolo.html
Video: Book Video TV Interview (3:12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIzEGbDHAhs
Sandstorm: Sigma Force 1 by James Rollins
Summary: “A freak explosion in the British museum in London ignites a perilous race for an
earth-shaking power source buried deep beneath the sands of history. Painter Crowe is an
agent for Sigma Force, a covert arm of the Defense Department tasked with keeping
dangerous scientific discoveries out of enemy hands. When an ancient artifact points the
way toward the legendary “Atlantis of the Sands,” Painter must travel across the world in
search of the lost city–and a destructive power beyond imagining” (author’s website).
Author’s website: http://www.jamesrollins.com/books/sigma_series
Video biography:WilliamMorrow1 (2:46):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NiJ9XNrBWo&list=PLlEbSJQvTGr6QU9GPaUFx88h
EU1PTM6RL&index=5
Article: Maugh, Thomas H. II. “Ubar, Fabled Lost City, Found by L.A. Team: Archeology:
NASA Aided in Finding the Ancient Arab Town, Once the Center of Frankincense Trade.”
Los Angeles Times 5 Feb. 1992. http://articles.latimes.com/print/1992-02-05/news/mn-
1192_1_lost-city
Article: Colavito, Jason. “Iram of the Pillars: A Pre-Human City?” 1 Nov. 2012.
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/iram-of-the-pillars-a-pre-human-city
Article: Schulz, Matthias. “’Atlantis in the Sand’” Unlocking the Mysteries of Petra.” ABC
News 21 Oct. 2012. http://abcnews.go.com/International/atlantis-sand-unlocking-
mysteries-petra/story?id=17520115&singlePage=true

7. Article: Peter Tyson, editor in chief of NOVA Online, interviews Mark Lehner. “Excavating
the Lost City.” NOVA: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/lehner-giza.html
Video: PBS. “Secrets of the Dead: Sinking Atlantis.” (52:32)
http://video.pbs.org/video/1204753806/