Catcher in the Rye Close Reading Analysis Worksheets Bundle with Answer Keys

Challenge high school students to go beyond basic reading comprehension and practice critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills while navigating Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Included are twenty-five close reading worksheets, each addressing a single chapter, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google Drive bundle option is available.) By engaging with these materials, students will do the following:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly

• Define words and/or phrases in context

• Verify interpretations of language using reference materials

• Consider how the author's narrative techniques achieve specific effects

• Explain the significance of given details

• Describe tone in context

• Discern the functions of given chapters

• Examine how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop

• Identify examples of Holden's sarcasm and dark humor

• Identify examples of Holden's awkward attempts to be accepted in the adult world

• Compare and contrast characters in the book

• Apply knowledge of literary devices including metaphor, simile, hyperbole, symbolism, idiom, slang, situational irony, dramatic irony, and verbal irony

• Explore themes in context

• Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence

• Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision

• And more

These resources may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using these activities for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.

Materials are available for teaching a range of adolescent fiction:

• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Google and printable

• Feed by M.T. Anderson - Google and printable

• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Google and printable

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Google and printable

• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros - Google and printable