benjamim buttom

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

F.Scott Fitzgerald

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Retold by Hannah Fish

© 2018 – StandFor

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Fitzgerald, F. Scott

The curious case of Benjamin Button : standfor graded readers : level 3 / F. Scott Fitzgerald ; retold by Hannah Fish ; illustrated by Weberson Santiago. -- 1. ed. -- São Paulo : FTD, 2018.

ISBN 978-85-96-01475-5 (aluno)

ISBN 978-85-96-01476-2 (professor)

1. Literatura infantojuvenil I. Fish, Hannah. II. Santiago, Weberson. III. Título.

18-13263

CDD-028.5

Índices para catálogo sistemático:

1. Literatura infantil 028.5

2. Literatura infantojuvenil 028.5

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THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1896, and published his first story in his school newspaper when he was fifteen. He went on to study at Princeton University, but he spent too much time on his writing, dropped out, and joined the army in 1917. He left the army at the end of the First World War in 1918, without seeing any fighting.

His first published novel was This Side of Paradise (1920), and he went on to write more novels, including The Great Gatsby (1925), and short stories, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1922). He moved to Hollywood in 1926, to write for the movies, and died there in 1940.

BEFORE READING

1 2

Look at the front cover, and read the back cover of this book. Who is Benjamin Button? What is different about him? Personal answers.

This story takes place in the U.S. Match these places in the story to their descriptions.

1. South Carolina e

2. Connecticut d

3. Maryland a

4. Yale University f

5. Baltimore b

6. Harvard University c

a. a state in the east of the U.S., south of New York

b. the largest city in the state of Maryland

c. a top college in the state of Massachusetts

d. a state in the east of the U.S., north of New York

e. a state in the south-east of the U.S.

f. a top college in the state of Connecticut

Now write the names of the places on the map. 3

South Carolina Baltimore Harvard University

Connecticut Yale University Maryland

New York City

Harvard University

Connecticut

Yale University

Baltimore

South Carolina Maryland

1 Benjamin is Born

It was a warm September morning in the summer of 1860, and Mr. Roger Button was on his way to the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen in Baltimore. At this time, most mothers had their babies at home, but Mr. and Mrs. Button wanted to have their baby in hospital, and the Maryland was a good, respectable, hospital for a family with a high social status.

Today was the day that the Buttons’ baby was expected, and as this was their first baby, Mr. Button was feeling very worried about the whole thing.

As Mr. Button walked quickly through the streets of Baltimore, he remembered hurrying excitedly to the hospital the night before. He hoped that there was a new life waiting for him there now. He wanted the baby to be a boy, so that he could send him to Yale

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

College in Connecticut. Yale was one of the most important colleges in the U.S. at the time, and Mr. Button was a successful student there when he was

As Mr. Button came nearer to the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen he saw Doctor Keene, the Button family doctor, walking down the

a young man. front steps.

Without thinking about the respectable way of doing things, Mr. Button quickly ran towards him and called, “Doctor Keene! Oh, Doctor Keene!”

The doctor turned around to look at Mr. Button, and as he did, a strange, dark look came onto his face.

“What happened?” asked Mr. Button loudly. “What was it? How is my wife? A boy? Who is it? What…”

Doctor Keene looked angrily at Mr. you talking about?” he said to the man now in front

Button. “What are of him. asked more quietly.

“Is the baby here?” Mr. Button

“Well… you could say that, yes, but…” The doctor’s voice was loud, and he sounded angry. Mr. Button started to feel even more worried than before.

“Is my wife OK?” Mr. Button asked. “Yes,” the doctor replied. “Well, is it a boy or a girl?”

“Go and see!” cried Doctor Keene in a loud and angry voice. He then said something quietly that Mr. Button didn’t understand – something about his job, and his status, and losing it all. He then looked straight into Mr. Button’s eyes and said, “I never want to see you or your family ever again! Good-bye!” and with that, the doctor turned and walked away.

Mr. Button felt very confused as he quickly walked

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Benjamin is Born | Chapter 1

up the steps and into the hospital. “What happened?” he thought. “It must be something terrible.”

His face was white when he got to the nurse sitting behind a desk in the waiting room. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Good morning,” she said in a soft voice. Poor Mr. Button was feeling terrible now. “I… I am Mr… Mr. Button,” he said quietly, but when she heard these words, the nurse’s face changed suddenly. She looked frightened, jumped up from her chair, and moved quickly away from her desk, and away from Mr. Button.

“I want to see my child,” Mr. Button said, and the nurse, nearly shouting now, said, “Of course, upstairs, go – go upstairs,” and she moved her head to show Mr. Button the stairs.

Mr. Button didn’t know what to say, so he turned to the stairs without saying anything. He held on to the wall as he walked up the stairs, because his legs were feeling so weak.

At the top of the stairs, Mr. Button met another nurse. This nurse was holding a big water bottle, and she dropped it as soon as she heard Mr. Button’s name. The water bottle made a loud noise as it fell, step after step, all the way down the stairs. She looked at Mr. Button with frightened eyes. He couldn’t think now. The noise of the water bottle filled his confused head, and made him feel sick.

“I want to see my child,” he shouted at her loudly. The nurse stood up straight and looked at Mr. Button.

“Come this way then,” she said.

Mr. Button followed the nurse until they came to a door. From behind the door, he could hear the cries of babies – many babies. As he followed the nurse into the room, Mr. Button saw many small beds along the wall, and each bed had a name card on it.

“Which one is mine?” asked Mr. Button.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

“That one,” said the nurse, and she moved her hand. Mr. Button’s eyes followed the nurse’s hand and there he saw, in a small baby’s bed at the end of the room, an old man with white hair and a long white beard.

Mr. Button could not believe his eyes. “What is this?” he shouted. “Do you think this is funny?”

“I do not, Mr. Button!” the nurse said in a loud voice, and the two of them looked again at the old man on the baby’s bed.

The old man looked back at Mr. Button. “Are you my father?” he asked. “I want to get out of here. Can you take me home?”

Mr. Button looked at the nurse with wide eyes. “He cannot be my son!” he shouted in a loud voice. “This is not funny! Where is my baby?”

Benjamin

“This is your child,” the nurse replied, “and you need to take him home as soon as possible. He can’t stay here.”

“Good!” said the old man. “I can’t get any sleep here, with all these babies crying. And when I asked for something to eat, they gave me a bottle of milk!”

Mr. Button fell down onto a chair and put his head in his hands. How could he take this old man home with him as his son? He looked up at the nurse and said in a weak voice, “I can’t.”

“You must take him home today, Mr. Button,” the nurse said. “But he can’t go like this. Go to the store and buy him some clothes.”

After a few minutes, Mr. Button got to his feet. Without looking at the old man, or at the nurse, he turned, walked out of the room, and shut the door loudly behind him.

Clothes for Benjamin 2

“Good morning,” Mr. Button said to the man in the clothes store.

“I want to buy some clothes for my child.”

“How old is your child?” the man asked.

Without thinking, Mr. Button replied, “about six hours.”

“The baby department is at the back of the store,” the man told him.

“Oh, he’s a very large child,” Mr. Button said. “Where is the boys’ department?”

“Right here,” the man replied, so Mr. Button started to look around at the clothes.

Mr. Button did not want to dress his son in men’s clothes, but he couldn’t find any boys’ clothes big enough for the old man. He felt very unhappy. He was a respectable gentleman, with a good social status in the city of Baltimore. He had a lot of friends, and everyone liked him. How could he tell people about his new son? How could he show them this old man with white hair and a long beard?

Just then, Mr. Button saw some boys’ clothes in the

window, and he felt a little happier. “I want those clothes,” he said.

But the man in the store looked at him with surprised eyes, and said, “But they are not clothes for a boy. They look like a boy’s clothes, but they are for a man, not a boy. You could wear them. They are special, funny clothes for a man to wear at a party. They really are not clothes for a boy.”

“That is what I want, so put them in a bag!” Mr. Button said to the man.

So the confused man took the clothes out of the window and put them in a bag for Mr. Button.

Back at the hospital, Mr. Button went up the stairs with stronger legs this time. He walked into the room with all the babies’ beds, and gave the bag to his son. “Here are your clothes,” he said to the old man. “Now, put them on.”

The old man opened the bag and looked at the clothes inside. “They look strange to me,” he said to his father. “I don’t want people to laugh at me…”

“Just put them on,” Mr. Button shouted. “Do as I tell you!”

“OK, Father,” the old man replied. “Just as you say. You know best.”

Hearing the old man call him Father made Mr. Button feel unwell. “And hurry up!” he shouted.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Benjamin Button is born an old man. As time passes he gets younger, not older, and his father doesn’t know what to do about it. How will it all end, and what will other people think?

This famous story, by one of America’s favorite authors, has fascinated people for a hundred years

StandFor Graded Readers provide a range of engaging reading materials for learners of English. Carefully graded by level, the series includes retellings of great classics, and informative, factual titles.

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