107 pages • 3 hours read
Ken LiuThe Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- Genre: Cross-genre short stories (science fiction, fantasy, noir, and magical realism)
- Originally Published: 2011
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 950L; grades 9-12; college/adult
- Structure/Length: 15 separate stories; approx. 464 pages; approx. 15 hours, 41 minutes on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: This collection of stories features primarily Asian protagonists facing immigrant experiences, implications of advanced technology, and other challenges.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Graphic violence and murder; sexual assault; suicide
Ken Liu, Author
- Bio: Born in Lanzhou, China, in 1976; worked as a software engineer, a corporate lawyer, and a high-tech litigation consultant before becoming a full-time writer; frequently speaks at conferences on topics ranging from cryptocurrency to futurism to the mathematics of origami; lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts
- Other Works: The Grace of Kings (2016); The Hidden Girl and Other Stories (2020); The Veiled Throne (2021); Speaking Bones (2022)
- Awards: Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus awards for various stories in the collection
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- Storytelling as a Universal Constant
- The Essence of Memory and Erasure of the Past
- The Immigrant Experience in America
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
- Develop an understanding of cultural issues and genre as a context for reading the stories in collection.
