October 4, 2012 VG Teaching Resources Vocab & ELA Res, VG Author Interviews 6-12, Vocab Gal, ELA 6-8, ELA Resources - Activities, ELA 9-12, ELA Focus - Vocabulary, ELA Focus - Author Interviews
By: Vocab Gal
All of my students and I have been talking nonstop about the Divergent trilogy. The second book in the series, Insurgent, was recently released, and everyone I know has read it, is currently reading it, or can’t wait to read it (I fall into this last camp as I need to get the audio edition for my work drive).
This book series is awesome because it promotes great language; it is set in a future world where people are divided into factions- and each faction title is a highly sophisticated vocabulary word! The factions: Abnegation-the selfless, Dauntless-the brave, Amity-the peaceful, Candor-the honest, and, of course, my favorite-Erudite, the intelligent. When my students asked me which faction I would align myself with, I immediately responded “Erudite.” Despite their sinister motives in the series, I just can’t help myself. Plus, the titles of the books-Divergent and Insurgent-are equally smart!
Author Veronica Roth was so lovely to interview, and I was intrigued to learn she had to use a thesaurus herself until she found the best word to label each faction. Such a revelation is a powerful message to students who think that they can never have the vocabulary of a writer…they just need to keep studying their words and learning to use vocabulary tools!
My favorite quote from her interview:
"The more words you know, the more capable you are of describing nuances in feeling or experience, and you are able to connect to other people on a deeper level because you are able to communicate better with them."
Thanks again to Veronica Roth for a great interview! I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy-plus, there will be a Divergent movie in 2014!