JenaciousD+-+Flowers+for+Algernon

 **Flowers for Algernon**

__Author Biography:__ Daniel Keyes was born in New York, and joined the Navy at seventeen. After serving in the Navy he went back to school at Brooklyn College. He was employed as an associate fiction writer and fashion photographer before he earned his license to teach English. Keyes taught in New York City schools while he earned his Master's Degree. As soon as he earned his Master's he left the city to teach creative writing at Wayne State University. In 1966 he joined the staff at Ohio University, and was made Professor of the English and Creative writing department. __The Book:__ //Flowers for Algernon// is a book about a 32 year old mentally retarded man named Charlie Gordon who is picked for an experiment to increase his intelligence. This test has only been performed before on animals, one of them being a mouse named Algernon, who has been the most successful in the experiments so far. Though Charlie is disappointed when after the surgery he isn't immediately changed, his intelligence begins to gradually increase. It gets to the point where his co-workers who used to mock him start to feel insecure because he has surpassed them, and Charlie is fired. Shortly after this Charlie and Algernon, and the scientists who performed the experiment go to Chicago for a conference to present their findings on increasing intelligence. When at the conference Charlie realizes that people still don't see him as human; he's now treated differently for having a higher I.Q. rather than a lower one, as soon as this happens Charlie makes an escape from the conference with Algernon. A short time after Algernon's intellect begins to slip and he begins behaving oddly. Charlie worries whether or not the same thing will happen to him.

The book is told through "Progress Reports" written by Charlie. The writing for the first part of the book is a bit hard to understand (("I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good" (Keyes 1)) because it's Charlie writing before he has the procedure, but once you get into the book it isn't that hard to read at all. The "Progress Reports" are a very good way of showing exactly what is going on in Charlie's mind, so you can see how he changes from the operation.

This book was placed on the Outstanding Books list for the uniqueness of it's concept. //Flowers for Algernon// was the first book of its kind ever written, an engrossing tale of human experiment. I would recommend this book to others because it's a very intriguing book and keeps the readers attention the entire time wondering what will happen to Charlie, and if he'll finally be accepted as a human being. If you liked this book you might also like //Of Mice and Men// by John Steinbeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men or //Summer of the Swans// by Betsy Byars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_the_Swans

//Flowers for Algernon// was adapted into a movie entitled //Charly// in 1968. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062794/