The Bean Trees
by Barbara Kingsolver

Meet Taylor Greer. Clear-eyed and spirited, she grew up poor in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy and to get away. She succeeds on both counts when she buys a '55 Volkswagen and heads west. But by the time she pulls up on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, at an auto repair shop called Jesus Is Lord Used Tires, she has reluctantly acquired a three-year-old companion named Turtle. What follows -- as Taylor meets the human condition head-on -- is at the heart of this memorable novel about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

From www.kingsolver.com

Reading Strategy Lesson Plans [under development]
Before-Reading | During-Reading | After-Reading | Vocabulary

Additional Plans and Activities [under development]
Description of additional plans and activities related to The Bean Trees

Excerpt
Brief excerpt from The Bean Trees [external link]

About the Author
Additional information about Barbara Kingsolver and her involvement in All America Reads

Reading Guide [under development]
Designed specifically for reading circles and book groups, a guide to reading with background information.

Additional Details from Kingsolver.com
Read more about the novel, its different publication formats, and its origins and research on the author's Website, Kingsolver.com.