Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Martel, Yann (2001 ). Life of Pi.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 0395977894

Summary: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, follows the adventures of 16-year old Pi Patel.  He, his family, and all of the animals from his family’s zoo are aboard a cargo ship moving from southern India to North America when disaster strikes and the ship sinks. Things become even more disastrous for Pi when his lifeboat becomes a refuge for several zoo animals, including the Bengal tiger. 

Additional Comments:  Life of Pi is an imaginative and suspenseful tale of survival in which Pi examines not only his place in the immediate surroundings of the lifeboat but also on a philosophical level, his place in the universe as well.

Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Ehrenreich, Barbara (2001 ). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America .  New York: Metropolitan Books.

ISBN: 0805063889

Summary:  In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich temporarily disowns her Ph.D. and comfortable multi-room home to investigate life at poverty-level wages. Taking jobs whose mental and physical effort is often underrated, such as waiting tables, cleaning houses and hotel rooms, working at Wal-Mart, and assisting at a nursing home, Ehrenreich must find the cheapest accommodations and meals available in order to survive at six or seven dollars an hour. 

Additional Comments:  Written partly in response to welfare reform, her social experiment is a test to find out just how livable minimum wage is without government assistance.  It might come as no surprise that she is barely able to make ends meet.  Starting in Florida, she moves to several locations around America to compare her findings across geographic regions, yet surviving on minimum wage (even with two jobs) was nearly impossible, not to mention damaging to her health and spirit. Nickel and Dimed is essential reading for privileged high school students who will never be forced to scrub someone else's toilet. They will gain insight and empathy for the hard-working lower-class trying to make an honest living by jobs that the upper-class refuse.

Into the Wild (Soundtrack)

Vedder, Eddie (2007).  Music for the motion picture "Into the wild" (Audio recording).  J-Records.

Summary:  Into the Wild was originally published by Jon Krakauer in 1996 and told the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man whose desire to separate himself from the constraints of society and whose post-graduation adventures across America land him in the solitude of the Alaskan wilderness.  A diary he kept revealed that his attempt to live off the land while living alone in an old van led to food poisoning that eventually killed him. Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam, went solo to create the acoustic soundtrack for Sean Penn's 2007 Oscar-nominated film. 

Additional Comments:  Eddie Vedder's melancholic guitar-strumming and thoughtful lyrics echo Chris' reflective musings and sense of detachment from others.  Eddie Vedder's raw, emotional vocals in songs like "Hard Sun" and "Society" set a mournful tone that echo Chris' departures from friends and family that care for him.  Lyrics, such as  "Society, crazy indeed / I hope you're not lonely without me" also further echo the story's tragic theme of a young man whose head-strong determination to make it on his own lead to an untimely death.