Lesson plan

The Basic Eight

The Basic Eight is the debut novel by author Daniel Handler, published in 1999. The book is a version of the diary of high-schooler Flannery Culp. It contains a number of sarcastic plot devices that ridicule high school English classes, standardized testing, satanic panic and talk-show analysts. The book is a classic example of one with an unreliable narrator. Consistent with Handler's farcical treatment of high school English, he includes vocabulary words and study questions at the end of some of Culp's diary entries.

Back to article

Article summary

The Basic Eight is the debut novel by author Daniel Handler, published in 1999. The book is a version of the diary of high-schooler Flannery Culp. It contains a number of sarcastic plot devices that ridicule high school English classes, standardized testing, satanic panic and talk-show analysts. The book is a classic example of one with an unreliable narrator. Consistent with Handler's farcical treatment of high school English, he includes vocabulary words and study questions at the end of some of Culp's diary entries.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1999 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1999". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1355779987

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.