Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 1 and 2
“And it’s true. I’ve got to figure it out. Because this, what’s happening right now, this is about me.”
1. What is the setting of this novel?
2. What does Bobby discover on Tuesday morning?
3. Evaluate Bobby’s reaction to what has happened to him. Is he being reasonable to himself?
4. How do Bobby’s parents react to his situation? Why is Bobby disappointed by their reaction?
5. Describe Bobby’s experiments.
6. Why do you think Bobby likes to escape the “real world” by reading books?
7. At the end of chapter two, Bobby learns that he has the day to himself. If you were Bobby, make a list of
five things that you would do with your time:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 3 and 4
“I look, I listen. I’m out in public, but I am completely alone.”
1. Why does Bobby dress the way he does when he leaves the house? What do you think are some possible
problems with this plan?
2. How does Bobby make his way through the library?
3. What is Bobby’s “good deed” and how does it turn bad?
4. Bobby doesn’t really get much of a chance to talk to the girl that is blind that he runs into at the library.
Pretend that you are that girl and write a paragraph about the encounter from her perspective:
5. What future connection do you think Bobby could have with the blind girl?
6. How do the “new rules” in Bobby’s house benefit him?
7. Do you think that Bobby’s dad overreacted when he blew up at Bobby at the end of chapter 4? Explain if
you think the actions of Bobby’s dad were justified or unjustified (not both).
8.
What does Bobby learn from the evening news? Why is this an even bigger tragedy now?
Name: ______________________________
Read the following encyclopedia entry about canes:
Blind people have used canes as mobility tools for centuries but it was not until after World War I that the white cane was
introduced. In 1921 James Biggs, a photographer from Bristol who became blind after an accident and was uncomfortable
with the amount of traffic around his home, painted his walking stick white to be more easily visible.
In 1931 in France, Guilly d'Herbemont launched a national white stick movement for blind people. On February 7, 1931, Guilly
d'Herbemont symbolically gave the first two white canes to blind people, in the presence of several French ministers. 5,000
more white canes were later sent to blind French veterans from World War I and blind civilians.
In the United States, the introduction of the white cane is attributed to George A. Bonham of the Lions Clubs International. In
1930, a Lions Club member watched as a man who was blind attempted to cross the street with a black cane that was barely
visible to motorists against the dark pavement. The Lions decided to paint the cane white to make it more visible. In 1931,
Lions Clubs International began a program promoting the use of white canes for people who are blind.
The first special White Cane Ordinance was passed in December 1930 in Peoria, Illinois granting blind pedestrians protections
and the right-of-way while carrying a white cane.
The long cane was improved upon by World War II veteran rehabilitation specialist, Richard E. Hoover, at Valley Forge Army
Hospital. In 1944, he took the Lions Club white cane (originally made of wood) and went around the hospital blindfolded for
a week. During this time he developed what is now the standard method of "long cane" training or the Hoover Method. He is
now called the "Father of the Lightweight Long Cane Technique." The basic technique is to swing the cane from the center of
the body back and forth before the feet. The cane should be swept before the rear foot as the person steps. Before he taught
other rehabilitators, or "orientors," his new technique he had a special commission to have light weight, long white canes
made for the veterans of the European fronts.
On October 6, 1964, a joint resolution of the Congress, HR 753, was signed into law authorizing the President of the United
States to proclaim October 15 of each year as "White Cane Safety Day". President Lyndon Johnson was the first to make this
proclamation.
Now, create a chart of 3 things you learned, 2 things you liked, and one question you still have about this topic.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 5 and 6
“It’s two cops, a man and a woman. They’re here to tell me. About the accident. About Mom and Dad.”
1. Why are Dr. Sarah Fleming’s words: “there’s nothing to be afraid of” ironic?
2. Who is Aunt Ethel? Why does Bobby “have to hand it to mom”?
3. Pretend that you are Bobby and that you are writing notes to yourself while on the phone with the nurse
from the hospital. Write seven bullet points that you think would be important to you:
4. Another person is confused about “seeing” Bobby. Write about Bobby’s visit to his mom from the
perspective of his mom’s roommate:
Name: ______________________________
In these chapters, Bobby is able to wonder into a hospital and obtain heath care information about his parents.
Read the following excerpt from a paper by Dr. Joy Pritts and decide what you think about information privacy
in healthcare.
If privacy is essentially having or being in a relatively personal space, it is difficult to think of an area more private
than an individual’s health or medical information. Medical records can include some of the most intimate details about a
person’s life. They document a patient’s physical and mental health, and can include information on social behaviors,
personal relationships and financial status. It is hardly surprising that when surveyed, people consistently report that they are
concerned about protecting the privacy and confidentiality of such personal information.
In one recent survey, 67% of respondents said they were concerned about the privacy of their medical records, with
ethnic and racial minorities showing the greatest concern. When presented the possibility that there would be a nationwide
system of electronic medical records, 70% of respondents were concerned that sensitive personal medical-record
information might be leaked because of weak data security, 69% expressed concern that there could be more sharing of
medical information without the patient's knowledge, and 69% were concerned that strong enough data security will not be
installed in the new computer system. People have identified being in control of who could get information about them;
being able to share confidential matters with someone they trust; and controlling what information is collected about them
as three of the facets of privacy that were most important to them. Half of the respondents in a recent survey believed that
“Patients have lost all control today over how their medical records are obtained and used by organizations outside the direct
patient health care such as life insurers, employers, and government health agencies.”
These public opinions about the “privacy” of health information reflect in a very real way the practical importance of
privacy to members of the public. They desire control over and security and confidentiality of their health information. They
want to know who is using their information and why.
A significant portion of Americans are concerned enough about the privacy of their health information that they take
matters into their own hands. In response to a recent California HealthCare Foundation survey, one out of eight respondents
reported that they had engaged in a behavior intended to protect his or her privacy, including taking such actions as avoiding
their regular doctor, asking their doctor not to record their health information or to “fudge” a diagnosis, paying out of pocket
so as not to file an insurance claim and even avoiding care altogether.
In very functional terms, adequately protecting the privacy of health information can help remedy these concerns
and, hopefully, reduce this behavior. Ensuring privacy can promote more effective communication between physician and
patient, which is essential for quality of care, enhanced autonomy, and preventing economic harm, embarrassment and
discrimination.
Studies focusing on genetic information show that individuals go to great lengths to keep their genetic information
private and out of the hands of their insurers and employers. Even health care providers are affected by these concerns. In a
survey of cancer-genetics specialists, more than half indicated that they would pay out of pocket rather than bill their
insurance companies for genetic testing, for fear of genetic discrimination. While surveys do not reveal a significant
percentage of individuals who have experienced such discrimination, geneticists have reported that approximately 550
individuals were refused employment, fired or denied life insurance based on their genetic constitution. In addition, studies
in the United Kingdom suggested that while insurers in that country do not have a full grasp on the meaning of genetic
information and do not assess or act in accord with the actuarial risks presented by the information. There is, therefore, some
legitimate basis to individuals’ concerns about potential economic harm and the need to protect the privacy of their genetic
information.
Now, create a chart of 3 things you learned, 2 things you liked, and one question you still have about this topic.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 7 and 8
“Coming home to an empty house. I mean, I’ve done it plenty of times, but tonight it’s different.”
1. Bobby can’t go in his front door because Mrs. Trent is a little nosey. If your front door had an automatic
light on it, would anyone notice if it mysteriously came on? Why or why not?
2. Write down three ways that the author creates an atmosphere of suspense in chapter 7:
3. What influence does Russell’s story have on the protagonist in chapter 7?
4. In the beginning of chapter 8, what are some signs that Bobby’s mom is starting to feel better?
5. Why is Bobby’s father annoying him? Would you react this way if you were in his situation?
6. Why is an “unseasonably warm” day a good thing for Bobby? How does he take advantage of it?
7. Write about Bobby’s Aunt Ethel:
Name: ______________________________
When Fear Makes Us Superhuman
Can an extreme response to fear give us strength we would not have under normal circumstances?
By Jeff Wise, Scientific American
Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger by Jeff Wise, published on December 8 by
Palgrave Macmillan (Scientific American is a Macmillan publication). Extreme Fear explores the neural underpinnings of this powerful and
primitive emotion by relating instances in which people were forced to act under duress and presenting the latest findings from cognitive
science. In the following passage from the chapter
entitled "Superhuman" a seemingly ordinary man performs an extraordinary feat of strength to rescue a cyclist who has been run over by a
car.
Here's how it is: one minute, you're going through your daily routine, only half paying attention. And the next you're sucked into a vivid,
intense world, where time seems to move slower, colors are brighter, sounds more perceptible, as though the whole universe has suddenly
come into focus.
It was about 8:30 P.M. on a warm summer evening in Tucson. Tom Boyle, Jr., was sitting in the passenger's seat of his pickup truck, his wife
Elizabeth at the wheel, waiting to pull out into traffic from the shopping mall where they'd just had dinner. The Camaro ahead of them hit
the gas, spun his wheels, and jerked out onto the avenue with a squeal of rubber. "Oh my God," Elizabeth said. "Do you see that?"
Boyle glanced up to see a shower of red sparks flying up from beneath the chassis of the Camaro. And something else: A bike, folded up
from impact. The Camaro had hit a cyclist, and the rider was pinned underneath the car. Boyle threw open the door of the truck and
started running after the car.
For a few gruesome seconds, the Camaro plunged on, dragging along the rider, 18-year-old Kyle Holtrust, with it. One of Holtrust's legs was
pinned between chassis of the car and the frame of his bike, the other jammed between the bike and the asphalt. After 20 or 30 feet, the
Camaro slowed and stopped. Holtrust screamed in agony, pounding on the side of the car with his free hand.
Without stopping to think, Boyle reached under the frame of the car and lifted. With a sound of groaning metal, the chassis eased upward a
few inches. "Mister, mister, higher, higher," Holtrust screamed.
Boyle braced himself, took a deep breath, and heaved. The front end lifted a few more inches. "'OK, it's off me," they boy called out, his
voice tight with pain. "But I can't move. Get me out!" The driver of the car, 40-year-old John Baggett, pulled Holtrust free. At last, about 45
seconds after he'd first heaved the car upward, Boyle set it back down.
The biker was badly hurt, in a lot of pain, and frightened. Blood was pouring out of his wounds. Boyle knelt down and wrapped the young
man in his arms, comforting him until the police and fire department arrived.
The local media celebrated Boyle's feat of compassion. The YMCA gave him an award. Newspapers and TV stations interviewed him. The
fanfare flattered him and he felt extremely proud of himself. Yet to this day there's something about that evening that he can't figure out.
It's no mystery to him why he did what he did—"I would be such a horrible human being to watch someone suffer like that and not even try
to help," he says—but he can't quite figure out how.
"There's no way I could lift that car right now," he says.
Boyle, it should be pointed out, is no lightweight. He carries 280 pounds on a six-foot-four-inch frame. But think about this: The heaviest
barbell that Boyle ever dead-lifted weighed 700 pounds. The world record is 1,008 pounds. A stock Camaro weighs 3,000 pounds. Even
factoring leverage, something extraordinary was going on that night.
That something was the body's fear response. When we find ourselves under intense pressure, fear unleashes reserves of energy that
normally remain inaccessible. We become, in effect, superhuman.
Under acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for sustained, vigorous action. The adrenal gland dumps
cortisol and adrenaline into the blood stream. Blood pressure surges and the heart races, delivering oxygen and energy to the muscles. It's
the biological equivalent of opening the throttle of an engine.
Vladimir Zatsiorsky, a professor of kinesiology at Penn State who has extensively studied the biomechanics of weightlifting, draws the
distinction between the force that our muscles are able to theoretically apply, which he calls "absolute strength," and the maximum force
Name: ______________________________
that they can generate through the conscious exertion of will, which he calls "maximal strength." An ordinary person, he has found, can
only summon about 65 percent of their absolute power in a training session, while a trained weightlifter can exceed 80 percent.
Under conditions of competition a trained athlete can improve as much as 12 percent above that figure. Zatsiorsky calls this higher level of
performance "competitive maximum strength." This parameter is not a fixed number—the more intense the competition, the higher it can
go, as the brain's fear centers progressively remove any restraint against performance.
It's no coincidence that world records in athletic events tend to get broken at major events like the Olympics, where the stakes are highest
and the pressure is the greatest. Of the eight gold medals that Michael Phelps won at the 2008 Olympics, for instance, seven were world
records. Not only that, but when he crossed the finish line in the men's 100-meter butterfly in 50.58 seconds, breaking the previous
Olympic record, three of the other seven swimmers who finished after him also came in ahead of the previous record.
But there's a limit to how fast and how strong fear can make us. We've all heard stories about panicked mothers lifting cars off their
trapped babies. They've been circulating for so long that many of us assume that they must be true. Zatsiorsky's work, however, suggests
that while fear can indeed motivate us to approach more closely to our absolute power level than even the fiercest competition, there's no
way to exceed it. A woman who can lift 100 pounds at the gym might, according to Zatsiorsky, be able to lift 135 pounds in a frenzy of
maternal fear. But she's not going to suddenly be able to lift a 3,000-pound car. Tom Boyle was an experienced weight lifter. The adrenaline
of that June night gave him an edge, but it didn't turn him into the Incredible Hulk.
The mechanisms by which the brain is able to summon greater reserves of power have not been well explored, but it may be related to
another of fear's superpowers: analgesia, or the inability to feel pain. When I'm at the gym, straining to complete the last rep of a dumbbell
exercise, it's pretty hard to imagine that my muscles have the capacity to work half again harder than they already are. What I feel is
screaming agony.
But under intense pressure—whether it's a bodybuilding competition, a kid trapped under a car, or an attacking bear—you just won't feel
that pain. The body pulls out all the stops and lets you turn up the dial up to "11". You don't feel the ache of your muscles. You don't feel
the pain. You just do what needs to be done.
Summarize the main idea of this excerpt in one sentence:
What piece of information did you find to be the most surprising? Why?
Do you think these same “superhuman” powers would apply to the protagonist in our book? Why or why not?
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 9 and 10
“…after three days of building a prison around my head, I’m out on the town.”
1. What have you learned about Bobby’s social status at school?
2. What does it mean to “stick your foot in your mouth”? How does Bobby do this?
3. Use the following passage as a mentor text for a paragraph about someone you know in this school.
Rewire the entire passage, but substitute your own words and phrases in the underlined sections. Write
all 8 sentences.
“I spot Kenny Temple, and I smile because I know he’s saying something funny. He’s always funny. He’s talking
with Jay Bender, and they’re laughing and shoving each other. Kenny’s got his backpack over one shoulder
and his jacket’s open, flapping. He’s got his sax case in his right hand, and that big red book in his left hand.
It’s the fiftieth-anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings. Kenny hasn’t let it out of his sight since he got it
for his birthday three weeks ago. The best part is that the book comes with a full set of maps.”
Name: ______________________________
4. At the end of chapter 9, Bobby is frustrated by someone who is using the listening room to work on her
laptop. Make a bulleted list of three things that frustrate you:
5. What motivates Bobby to initiate a conversation with the girl in the library?
6. On page 79 Bobby talks about there being different kids of smiles. Aside from what he mentions, what
other kinds of smiles do think exist?
7. Boy meets girl… boy leaves and then comes back. Decide if you think Bobby and this girl would make a
good couple. List three reasons why they would OR three reasons why they wouldn’t – not both.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 11 and 12
“I feel awkward. I don’t know if I should offer to guide her or what.”
1. We finally learn the name of Bobby’s friend! Her name is _________________________ and Bobby
finds this out when___________________________________________________________________.
2. How does Alicia discover Bobby’s secret? How does she react? Is this how you would expect her to react?
3. Why do you think Alicia is so willing to accept Bobby the way he is?
4. Big problemo when Bobby is walking Alicia across the street. Describe what happens:
5. Do you think that Alicia is overreacting in this situation? Why or why not?
6. How does Alicia “test” Bobby to find out if he really is invisible?
7. In the beginning of chapter 12 Bobby speaks to his parents on the phone. Write three adjectives to
describe their conversation.
8. What is one thing that Bobby seems to regret so far in the book?
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 13 and 14
“I met a girl, a blind girl. And she knows about everything, but it’s okay.”
1. As Bobby is talking to Alicia, Bobby keeps noticing a creeper in a tweed jacket. After some time, Bobby
learns that this person is __________________________________.
2. In an earlier chapter, Alicia does not seem to want to volunteer the story of how she became blind.
However, in chapter 13 she tells Bobby the story. Summarize in your own words what caused her
blindness:
3. The first morning that Alicia knew she was blind, she said that she became invisible. Why? Answer the
question with a direct quote from the book.
4. As chapter 14 gets started, more people know about Bobby and his “situation.” Name ALL of the people in
the book that now know that Bobby is invisible:
5. Why did Bobby wake up afraid on Saturday morning? How was this different from the other days that
week?
6. In chapter 14 bobby learns at least 5 things. Name them:
7. How are the school nurse and Mr. Creed causing conflict for Bobby? What type of conflict is this?
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 15 and 16
“My name is Officer Martha Pagett, and I’m from the school and truancy division of the State Department of
Children and Family Services. May I come in?”
1. Why is this lady on Bobby’s doorstep and what lie does his mom make up about his whereabouts?
2. More foreshadowing at the end of chapter 15. What is it?
3. In chapter 16 Bobby’s mom “works her way through the entire alphabet of swear words.” What in the
world has made this woman so angry?
4. On page 132 Bobby’s dad brings up the possibility that the state will think that Bobby has a disability.
Bobby thinks, “it’s like being paralyzed or – or blind.” How is Bobby’s situation a disability?
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapter 17
“Don’t answer the phone, Bobby.”
1. Re-read Alica’s summary of H.G. Well’s The Invisible Man on page 136. How do you think Bobby feels
after hearing this story?
2. People say “there’s safety in numbers.” How is that applicable to this chapter?
3. Bobby talks about putting an ad in the newspaper that says, “Having problems with invisibility? Call
Bobby, and say so long to your troubles!” Think of two other eye-catching ad ideas that Bobby could put
in the newspaper:
4. Identify the turning point in the phone conversation that Bobby and Alicia have on the phone.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapter 18
“Now, don’t worry, Bobby. You get a good night’s rest. I just know everything’s going to be fine.”
1. Use the space below to illustrate eight important scenes that best depict the chapter:
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 19 and 20
“…I keep thinking about my electric blanket. It’s definitely faulty.”
1. Why must Bobby only use his mother’s cell phone to make calls?
2. What does Bobby learn about his electric blanket from the Sears customer service operator?
3. At the end of chapter 19, Bobby has an ambitious plan. Pretend that you are Bobby and write a better
note for him to leave for his mother. Write at least one paragraph and include three reasons why you
are doing what you are doing.
4. What have you learned about Alicia’s relationship with her mother?
5. What is the Americans With Disabilities Act?
Name: ______________________________
Read the following encyclopedia article about the history of the planning and construction of the Sears Tower in
Chicago, which is now called the Willis Tower.
In 1969, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was the largest retailer in the world, with
approximately 350,000 employees. Sears executives decided to
consolidate the thousands of employees in offices distributed throughout
the Chicago area into one building on the western edge of Chicago's Loop.
With immediate space demands of 3 million square feet (279,000 m²),
and predictions for future growth necessitating more space, Sears
commissioned architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to produce
a structure to be one of the largest office buildings in the world. Their
team of architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan
designed the building as nine square "tubes", each essentially a separate
Breakdown of the bundled tube structure of the Willis Tower
building, clustered in a 3×3 matrix forming a square base with 225-foot
with simplified floor plans.
(75 m) sides. All nine tubes would rise up to the 50th floor of the building.
At the 50th floor, the northwest and southeast tubes end, and the
remaining seven continue up. At the 66th floor, the northeast and the southwest tubes end. At the 90th floor, the north, east,
and south tubes end. The remaining west and center tubes continue up to the 108th floor. The building was the first to utilize
Khan's bundled tube structure.
Sears executives decided that the space they would immediately occupy should
be efficiently designed to house their Merchandise Group. But floor space for
future growth would be rented out to smaller firms and businesses until Sears
could retake it. Therefore, those floor areas had to be designed to a smaller
plate, with a high window-space to floor-space ratio, to be attractive and
marketable to prospective lessees. Smaller floorplates required a taller structure
to yield sufficient square footage. Skidmore architects proposed a tower with
large 55,000-square-foot (5,000 m²) floors in the lower part of the building, and
gradually tapered areas of floorplates in a series of setbacks, which would give
the Sears Tower its distinctive look.
As Sears continued to offer optimistic projections for growth, the tower's
proposed height soared into the low hundreds of floors and surpassed the
height of New York's unfinished World Trade Center to become the world's
tallest building. Restricted in height by a limit imposed by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) to protect air traffic, the Sears Tower was financed by the
company. It was topped with two antennas to permit local television and radio
broadcasts. Sears and the City of Chicago approved the design, and the first steel
was put in place in April 1971. The structure was completed in May 1973.
Construction costs totaled approximately US$150 million at the time, which would be equivalent to roughly US$950 million in
2005. By comparison, Taipei 101, built in 2004 in Taiwan, cost around the equivalent of US$1.76 billion in 2005 dollars.
Even though regulations didn't require a fire sprinkler system, the building was equipped with one from the beginning. There are
about 40,000 sprinkler heads in the building. The sprinkler system cost 4 million dollars.
In February 1982, two television antennas were added to the structure, increasing its total height to 1,707 feet (520 m). The
western antenna was later extended, bringing the overall height to 1,730 feet on June 5, 2000 to improve reception of local NBC
station WMAQ-TV.
***
Pick one fact about the design of the building. Write it down on a separate piece of paper, and then explain how the
text features (diagram and photo) help you to better understand that sentence.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 21 and 22
“News flash: Invisible people make excellent spies and thieves.”
1. Write one paragraph about chapter 21. The first word in your first sentence should be “Although.”
2. Who is Amber Carson? What information does Bobby need from her? How does Bobby go about obtaining
the information from her computer?
3. What kind of experience does Alicia have on her job interview?
4. In chapter 22, call number 59 was to ____________________________ and call number 60 was to
______________________.
5. Why do you think Bobby falls asleep thinking about call number 60?
6. Pick one of the emotions below that you feel best describes Alicia’s mood in chapter 22. Then, circle the
emotion and write one paragraph to justify your selection.
vulnerable
hopeful
hesitant
scared
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 23 and 24
“Seems your aunt Ethel has vanished. So we’d like you to tell us where she and your son might be.”
1. Pretending that you are Ms. Pagett in chapter 23, fill out the form below:
Truancy Officer Name:
Child’s First Name:
Address:
Name of Parent/Guardian:
Initial Visit or Follow Up:
Date:
Child’s Last Name:
City, State:
Child’s Age:
Gender of Child:
Relevant background information on child:
Reason for today’s home visit:
Summary of visit:
Recommendation or plan of future action:
Signature of Truancy Officer:
Date:
Name: ______________________________
2. When Bobby finally gets a hold of Sheila, she has a very interesting story to tell. Summarize it in five bullet
points:
3. Why do you think that Sheila has no desire at all to reverse her current condition?
4. Loneliness is one of the themes of this novel. How does this relate to invisibility?
5. Make a prediction: Who do you think will solve the puzzle: Bobby or Mr. Phillips? Do you think the puzzle will
be solved? Explain your answer.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 25 and 26
“Relational database analysis.”
1. Why don’t the adults want Bobby to be honest with the authorities about his situation?
Bobby’s father says that Bobby’s situation is NOT like the Manhattan Project. Read the following information about
that program:
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program by the United States with the United Kingdom and
Canada that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the
direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Army component of the project was
designated the Manhattan District; "Manhattan" gradually superseded the official codename, "Development of
Substitute Materials", for the entire project. Along the way, the Manhattan Project absorbed its earlier British
counterpart, Tube Alloys.
The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2
billion (roughly equivalent to $25.8 billion as of 2012). Over 90% of the cost was for building factories and producing
the fissionable materials, with less than 10% for development and production of the weapons. Research and
production took place at more than 30 sites, some secret, across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Two types of atomic bomb were developed during the war. A relatively simple gun-type fission weapon was made
using uranium-235, an isotope that makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium. Since it is chemically identical to
the main isotope, uranium-238, and has almost the same mass, it proved difficult to separate. Three methods were
employed for uranium enrichment: electromagnetic, gaseous and thermal. Most of this work was performed at Oak
Ridge, Tennessee.
2. Write down three reasons why a person COULD make the argument that Bobby’s situation IS like the
Manhattan Project.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen: Chapters 27 and 28
“But there’s nothing I can do, so I just stand still.”
1. Write one sentence about chapter 27. The first word in your first sentence should be “If.”
2. Why does Bobby’s family wake up at 4:30 am? Explain Bobby’s close call with Officer Pagett.
3. Why do you think Sheila wants to be forgotten?
4. What makes Alicia “see” herself again?
5. Write a one paragraph reaction to the last page of the book.
Name: ______________________________
Things Not Seen Assessment
Purpose: Over the course of the next few days you will be reading and researching concepts related to our book. You
will determine what information would be effective to each character in the book and then select one of those
pairings to fully develop into an informal letter to that character.
Section One
Use the given time to investigating the websites below. As you read, think of which websites would be most helpful
for which characters in the book and record their names on your paper.
Pennsylvania Association for the Blind
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
The Electric Blanket Institute
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Police Tracking of Cellphones Raises Privacy Fears
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Guide Dogs of America
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Name: ______________________________
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Effects of Solar Wind
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Talking to Your Parents
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Communication Tips for Parents
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
How to Deal with Loneliness
I would recommend this website to _________________________________. This is a logical recommendation
because
A.
B.
C.
Name: ______________________________
Section Two
Select one of your website recommendations and further develop the idea.
Title of website:
Character I am recommending it to: _____________________________________________________
Using your book, locate three examples from the book that support your decision that this character really needs to
read through this website.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
Section Three
Write an informal letter to your character that persuades him or her to visit the website you chose. Be sure to format
your letter correctly. Use one of your supporting quotes in each of the three body paragraphs. You should open a
new file in Word to complete this task. You may use the back of this paper to brainstorm ideas and/or write a rough
draft.