J.D. Salinger was born in 1919. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy where he began writing stories. He served in World War II and received psychiatric treatment after being injured. His only published novel, The Catcher in the Rye, tells the story of Holden Caulfield and his experiences after being expelled from his prep school. Salinger lived a reclusive life in New Hampshire after the success of the novel.

1. The Catcher in the Rye

2. J. D. Salinger Born January 1, 1919 Salinger was a good student in grade school, but was dropped by his prep school for his failing grades. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy, which was the model for his only novel, Catcher in the Rye . It was at Valley Forge where he first began writing stories.

3. Salinger was drafted into the army in 1942, and a member of the Fourth Army division famous for the D-Day invasion. He was injured in the war and hospitalized in Germany for psychiatric treatment. He returned home to the United States in 1947. In 1955 Salinger married Claire Douglas. They had two children, Matthew and Peggy. They were divorced in 1967. Today Salinger lives alone in a cottage in New Hampshire. He refuses all interviews, and has not published a novel since the attention from Catcher in the Rye scared him years ago.

4. Chapter 1 Holden Caulfield, the narrator, begins the story at Pencey Prep School. “ Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown, Pennsylvania.” “ They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time. I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place.”

5. Holden is standing on a hill, watching the football game. He has just returned from New York with the fencing team. He had lost the foils and equipment on the subway, so there was no fencing match.

6. “ The other reason I wasn't down at the game was because I was on my way to say good-by to old Spencer, my history teacher.” “ He had the grippe (flu), and I figured I probably wouldn't see him again till Christmas vacation started.” “ He wrote me this note saying he wanted to see me before I went home.” “ He knew I wasn't coming back to Pencey.”

7. “I wasn't watching the game too much.” “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-bye. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that.” “I don't care if it's a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. “If you don't, you feel even worse.”

8. Cool Teacher Site coolteacher.iwarp.com