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BAEN BOOKS
TEACHER’S GUIDE TO A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP BY DAVID WEBER





Contents:


Recommended reading levels: A Beautiful Friendship is appropriate for a young adult audience. Classroom use of the book is probably most appropriate for middle school students.


Biographical information on David Weber:


David Weber is a popular, best-selling author of science fiction and fantasy. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. He graduated from Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville, South Carolina in 1970 and received a bachelor’s degree from Warren Wilson College. Weber also did graduate work in history at Appalachian State University.  He started writing poetry and short fiction when he was in the fifth grade. His mother was an advertising copywriter and trained him in that craft. Before becoming a full time writer of fiction, he worked in advertising, public relations, and war-game design. His first novel, Insurrection, was published in 1990. This book, a collaboration with Steve White, grew out of Weber’s experience as a game designer. He has written over fifty solo and collaborative novels and contributed to numerous anthologies of short fiction. He is best known as an author of science fiction with military themes, but he has also written fantasy, “space operas,” and alternate history. Weber and his wife Sharon, along with their children, dogs and cats, live in Greenville, South Carolina.


Biographical resources on the web:




Suggested class activity: Have your students read the autobiographical information on Weber’s website before they begin the book. Ask them to make notes as they read. Have the class discuss the several different influences that led Weber to become a writer. They also might want to explore some of the interviews available on Youtube and Baen’s website (http://baen.com/interview.asp) in which Weber discusses his development and interests as an author.


For further information on David Weber and his work:





Bibliographies:


You can find bibliographies of Weber’s work at his own website (http://www.davidweber.net/books), at the website Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org) (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?David_Weber), at the website Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-weber), at the website SFBookcase (http://www.sfbookcase.com/author.asp?author=David+Weber), and on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weber).


Background:


Published by Baen Books in 2011, this story fills in some of the background for Weber’s best-selling Honor Harrington adult science fiction series. The protagonist, Stephanie Harrington, is one of Honor’s ancestors. It is also the first book in a planned young adult series dealing with the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Students may be interested in delving into the wiki for its heroine, Stephanie Harrington (http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Stephanie_Harrington), and exploring other facets of what has come to be called the “Honorverse” in which the book is set (http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page).


Plot Summary: Stephanie Harrington and her parents have emigrated to the frontier planet of Sphinx. Almost twelve terran years old when the story opens, Stephanie chafes at her parents’ restrictions. Restless and intelligent, she sets out to solve a mystery. Who is stealing celery, of all things, from the gardens and greenhouses of Sphinx? Her investigation leads her to an astonishing discovery: a previously unknown sentient species native to the planet. The treecats are small six-legged animals, something like a cross between a bobcat and a lemur, that use tools and live in clans in the tree canopy. Stephanie develops a strong bond with one of the treecats, Climbs Quickly. She finds that the secretive treecats are not only highly intelligent, they are telepaths as well. While the treecats debate whether to trust or flee from the humans, the humans are divided about how they should be treated. Stephanie quickly learns that there are people who want to exploit the 'cats as pets or research subjects. There are also humans who think it would be more convenient if all the treecats were destroyed, leaving the planet for human ownership. Can humans and treecats live in peace and share the planet? Can Stephanie and Climbs Quickly trust anyone to have the best interests of the 'cats at heart?   


Major Characters:



The Honorverse wiki (http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) contains a useful link with short descriptions of most of the characters in the “Honorverse” (http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Characters) as well as links for geography, political groups, and star nations that students might find useful as they navigate the book.


GUIDE TO chapters 1—7


Prepare to Read . . . .




Chapter Summaries:



Quiz/Reading Comprehension Questions: