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.