edHelper.com
 J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 9 to 12
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   10.2

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    Franny, Hapworth, macrobiotics, meat-importing, year-long, yearbook, censorship, predecessor, extracurricular, autobiographical, homeopathy, scrutiny, second-most, adolescence, publication, dialogue
     content words:    Jerome David, New York, Marie Salinger, When Salinger, McBurney School, Eventually Salinger, Valley Forge Military Academy, New York University, Nazi Germany, Ursinus College

Print J.D. Salinger
     Print J.D. Salinger  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format
     Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
     Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format
     Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on J.D. Salinger
     Leave your feedback on J.D. Salinger  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

J.D. Salinger
By Jamie Kee 		  
1     Jerome David "J.D." Salinger, born on January 1, 1919, is an American writer best known for his controversial novel, The Catcher in the Rye. He is a popular writer considered by many readers as well as critics to be one of the most influential writers of the latter part of the 20th century. Unfortunately, Salinger's fame brought him much public attention and scrutiny causing him to become reclusive.
 
2     Salinger was born in New York to parents Sol and Marie Salinger. The couple had two children, Jerome and Doris. When Salinger was young, he initially attended public schools in Manhattan, but he was eventually moved to a prep school, McBurney School, for grades nine and ten. He found it difficult to adjust to this school, but he was able to find areas of interest. He acted in several plays where he showed a talent for drama. Unfortunately, his father was opposed to his son's acting. Eventually Salinger was moved to the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. He maintained average grades but kept active in extracurricular activities. Salinger acted in school plays, edited the yearbook, wrote the class song, participated in the choir, and wrote several short stories.
 
3     After graduating high school in 1936, Salinger moved on to college at New York University with plans to study special education. However, he only attended for a semester. His father then convinced him to learn about meat-importing, so he was sent to Vienna, Austria, to work at a company. Luckily, Salinger left Austria just a month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938. He then enrolled in Ursinus College in Pennsylvania that same year, but just like before, he only attended for one semester. The structure of college was difficult for Salinger, despite his intelligence. He just had no patience for formal academic learning.
 
4     In 1939 Salinger transferred to Columbia University where he was able to take an evening writing class taught by Whit Burnett, the editor of Story magazine. Burnett made a lasting impression on Salinger, and it was to Story magazine where Salinger submitted his first story, "The Young Folks," in 1940. Salinger temporarily worked on a cruise ship but later began submitting short stories to The New Yorker: "Lunch for Three," "Monologue for a Watery Highball," and "I Went to School with Adolf Hitler." Unfortunately, all three stories were rejected. Fortunately, The New Yorker later accepted his story "Slight Rebellion off Madison," but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the story's publication was delayed until 1946.

Paragraphs 5 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Weekly Reading Books

          Create Weekly Reading Books

Prepare for an entire week at once!

More Lessons
             High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets


Back to School
Graphic Organizers
Alphabet Worksheets
Sight Words
Math Worksheets
Mazes
50 States

Monthly Themes
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Fractions
Place Value
Time and Calendar
Money
Earth Day
Solar System
Analogies
Nouns
Following Directions
Listening
Capitalization
Cursive Writing
Patterns and Sequencing
Dinosaurs
All About Me

Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Multiplication
Division
Main Idea
Cause and Effect
Measurement
Decimals
Rounding
Order of Operations
Verbs
Community Helpers
Adjectives
Plants
Grammar
Addition and Subtraction
Contractions
Bulletin Board Ideas
Word Searches
Crossword Puzzles
Printable Puzzles

Reading Comprehension
Reading Skills
English Language Arts



Copyright © 2011 edHelper