A Separate Peace

• Genre: Fiction; young adult literary
• Originally Published: 1959
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1030L; grades 7-12
• Structure/Length: 13 chapters; approx. 204 pages; approx. 6 hours, 8 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The dark side of adolescence comes to light at a boys’ boarding school in New England during World War II. Sixteen-year-old Gene is a lonely, intellectual boy, and his roommate, Phineas, is a handsome daredevil athlete. The boys lose their innocence in a freak accident during the summer when the war takes the innocence of the entire world.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Profanity; war; death; suicide ideation; alcohol use            

John Knowles, Author

• Bio: 1926-2001; born in West Virginia; attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and graduated in 1945; served eight months in the US Army Air Forces at the end of World War II; attended Yale University, where he contributed stories to the campus humor magazine The Yale Record; was a record-holding varsity swimmer; graduated in 1949; wrote for Hartford Courant and was assistant editor for Holiday magazine
• Other Works: Morning in Antibes (1962); Indian Summer (1966); Spreading Fires (1974); Peace Breaks Out (1981)
• Awards: Rosenthal Family Foundation Award (1961); William Faulkner Foundation Award inaugural winner (1961); National Book Award finalist (1961)     

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit: