Pay It Forward

Written by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014

This is the middle grade version of the story of a twelve year old boy named Trevor who takes on the challenge of his social studies teachers assignment to come up with a plan to change the world. His idea is to "pay it forward" by doing one good deed for three people and in turn they pay it forward. This story follows Trevor's incredible journey of putting his plan into action. 

Lexile Level: 630L

Age Range: 9-13 years

Page Count: 261

Suggested Delivery: Read-Aloud

Key Words: Good Deed, Action, Extra Credit, Change, Kindness.

Internet Resources:

Catherine Ryan Hyde's Website

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/pay-it-forward-young-readers-e/

This is the authors website, which is great for the students to look at with a video of the author explaining her reasoning for writing this version of the book. There is also links to other books by the author on her website along with other resources. 

Pay It Forward Foundation Website

http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org

This is the Pay It Forward movements foundation website. This is a great resource for the students if they want to get more information on the Pay It Forward movement. There is a great video on the home page of the website describing what the movement is all about. 

Vocabulary:

• Generosity: the quality of being kind and generous. 
• Life Insurance: insurance that pays out a sum of money either at the death of the insured or after a set period of time. 
• Citizen: a person who legally belongs to a country and has the rights and protection of that country. 
• Vigil: an event or period of time when a person or people stay in a place quietly, or pray. 
• Commitment: an engagement or obligation to something. 
• Recognition: identification of something's existence. 

Teaching Suggestions:

1. Have students get in groups of 5 and research a charity that they would like to be a part of and have them do research into what the charity is all about. After they have done the research have them draft a letter to send to the charity asking them what they can do to help out, or plans that they come up with or help the charity.
2. Once students have read the novel have them watch the Pay It Forward movie. Have them compare the movie to the book and write a short comparison between the two in their reading journals.
3. Create a Pay It Forward Tree where students who are seen performing good deeds or tell the teacher of a good deed that they have done, write it on a leaf in which they write what they did and their names and stick it on the tree. This will help to prompt students to preform good deeds. 

Reading Strategies:

1. Before: Before reading the book, ask the students to brainstorm acts of kindness that they or a group of friends could do for someone else. After they have brainstormed in groups of 4 have them come up with a plan of how to put one of those acts of kindness into action.
2. During:While reading the story aloud to the class, create a concept map with the class to keep track of all of the characters and how they each play a part in the story.
3. After: Have the students complete a popcorn review of what they thought about the book after having finished it. Have them discuss the parts that they found most interesting and surprising. Have them tell you if they would recommend the book to someone else and why. Have the prompts written on the board and then set a timer for 10 minutes and let the reviews begin. 

Writing Activity:

Students will write a letter to Trevor explaining why they think he is a hero or why they think he is not one. For a more challenging version have students write a letter to Arlene or Reuben from Trevor explaining why or why not he thinks that he is a hero for what he inspired.