The Bean Trees/Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

Marietta Greer heads west in her newly purchased ’55 Volkswagen bug hoping to escape the limitations of her small-town background. Changing her name to Taylor and finding herself with an abandoned child mark the beginnings of Taylor’s search for a place to live, a job, and a childcare solution. Her meeting with Mattie, Lou Ann, and Dwayne Ray and her residence in Roosevelt Park bring many challenges into her life. Capturing the dialect of Barbara Kingsolver’s own Kentucky background, The Bean Trees illustrates the difficulties of single parenting, economic deprivation, alienation, and Native American displacement. It is an unprejudiced presentation of an urban community of women and children.

A young mother and her adopted daughter set out on a short vacation trip and discover the mystery of becoming involved with the destiny of others. Pigs in Heaven, a contemporary and realistic novel, portrays individual struggles against poverty, injustice, and family division; identification of inner strength, courage, and endurance in daily living; Cherokee culture is presented.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.