7^th Grade English Name:___________________________

The Pigman & Me, by Paul Zindel

Memoir Assignment

Background:

The Pigman & Me is a memoir. It’s not quite an autobiography, since Paul Zindel doesn’t tell the whole story of his own life. It’s not a history book, since it doesn’t rely on research and statistics and facts. It’s a memoir, which is a person’s personal memory or reflection on past events, as that one person remembers them. A memoir may contain information that is opinionated or biased, but it is true as the author remembers.

When a famous person, or even a non-famous person, sits down later in life to write about his or her life, this is called “writing one’s memoirs”.

Your Assignment:

Write an incident that would be included in your memoirs. Not a whole book, like Paul Zindel, but one incident from such a book, or one chapter. For example, he writes about the day it “rained cockroaches”. He also writes about a time Nonno Frankie tied cans together and got the passing cars to make noise. He writes about the time his sister’s eyes rolled up into her head and she seemed to almost die. He writes about his time sitting in the apple tree with Jennifer, and what eventually happened to the apple tree. These are memories from his childhood which he’s written down.

Possible Ideas…

• a time you got injured or very ill, or had an operation
• a time you met a famous person
• an interesting/helpful relative you have had, and his/her effect on you
• something funny that once happened to you
• a special place and its meaning to you
• a special vacation
• an event such as a wedding, funeral, or birthday

Timeline

1) Think about the assignment! Come up with a good idea to write about.

2) Write a first draft, by hand or on a computer. That’s due Mon. 16 April (7-C)/Tues. 17 April (7-E).

3) Edit/Share/Edit. We’ll do that in class with your first draft.

4) Write a final draft. Your polished piece should be about 3-5 pages typed, double-spaced.

5) The final draft is due on Tuesday. April 24^th(7-C)/Wednesday, April 25^th(7-E).

Grading Categories

• Use of paragraphs and paragraph form to break up and organize your writing
• Interesting topic, good topic choice
• Use of appropriate details and descriptive words in your writing. Tell your tale at a good pace, not too slowly and not too quickly.
• Spelling, grammar, and mechanics.
• Neat, not messy. No pencil, no paper torn from a notebook. Typed if possible. You may have illustrations if you’d like, but it’s not required.