SHATTERED
by Eric Walters
Visualizing is a reading strategy. Jump into the setting. Create a picture in your head. Imagine and describe what you see, hear, touch, taste, smell and feel.
This slideshow will help you to visualize the everyday setting of the novel. Jump into Sarge's character. How do you think it feels to sleep on the street? To be invisible? To have to wait, hungry, in a line with strangers for food? Can you hear the noise of the street? What are the sounds and smells of the soup kitchen? Can you feel the hot, soapy water in the sink that Ian plunges his hands into at the end of the meal? What do the homeless clients look and smell like?
Rwanda is located in Central Africa. Use the slideshow to describe Rwanda before, during and after the genocide. Sarge can visualize this setting when he remembers his experiences as a UN peacekeeper. How does the setting of Rwanda change in the mind of Sarge?
Is this person invisible to the child?
Homelessness is a problem, even in wealthy countries like Canada.
Volunteers ladle food to clients at the soup kitchen.
Is this person invisible to the child?
Rwanda is a fertile land, rich with mineral resources.
The volcanic soil has minerals that is important for growing crops to feed the population.
Skulls of people killed. These people had hidden in a church for protection. A whole village was lost. Instead of burying the skulls, they are displayed for people to see and remember.
Rwanda is a fertile land, rich with mineral resources.
Another important setting is Ian's civics classroom. You can visualize your classroom. What do you see, hear, smell, feel, touch? Can you hear the scratching chalk on the blackboard? The sound of the teacher's voice and the students chatting? The awkward silence when the teacher asks a question and no one wants to answer? How do you feel when you have an assignment late? When your teacher asks you to present to the class and you are not ready? Jump into the setting to help you understand the character, Ian.