Sadie
Written by Courtney Summers

Publisher’s Summary:
Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray–a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America–overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

Primary Source Pairing:
Sadie is as unique and fresh as a book can be. And disturbing. And compelling. Sadie broke the mold in a crossover podcast/narrative style. If possible, listen to Sadie on audio. The full cast production is fantastic. In lieu of the audio version of the book, listen to the podcast episodes on the Macmillan website. Encourage students to analyze the podcast as an audio recording. Discuss with students the multimodal experience of listening to the podcast episode as an extension of the reading experience.

Questions for Discussion:

• Describe what you notice.
• What do you notice first?
• Are any words unfamiliar to you?
• Do you notice any accent?
• Does it seem like an interview or a conversation?
• Do you notice any background noises?
• What other details do you hear?

Credits:
Book Cover and Summary: Follett
The Girls: Find Sadie – Macmillan podcasts: https://us.macmillan.com/podcasts/podcast/the-girls-find-sadie/