1. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Published in 1945

2. JOHN STEINBECK  born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902  Parents were educated professionals  Loved the classics; mother fostered his love of reading  Excelled in athletics as a boy, especially basketball and track  Attended Stanford University  Left university to work as a reporter in New York  Returned to California in 1929

3. JOHN STEINBECK CONTINUED  First novel published in 1929  Wrote many significant novels; successful author  Steinbeck’s style can be described as “lyric prose”; rich in imagery  His works often championed the underprivileged  His novels are filled with commentary that makes the social extremes of life clear to the audience  Steinbeck balances oppression of the “have- nots” with imagery of the small, everyday joys of life

4. published in 1937

5. The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, won the Pulitzer Prize (distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life).

6. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Published in 1945

7.  Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.  The prize in literature is dedicated to the “person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” JOHN STEINBECK WON A NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE IN 1962

9. The setting of The Pearl is in Central America, Baja Peninsula. The city is La Paz, spanish for “the peace” as in a tropical paradise.

12. The Baja Peninsula was explored and settled by European Spaniards. These Spaniards considered themselves a higher social and economic class than the native Baja people.

15. Manta ray and sea lion

18. The Baja Peninsula Coastline

20. The interior of the peninsula is desert. Its main vegetation is cactus and brush.

21. Steinbeck passed in 1968. The Steinbeck Memorial is in Monterrey, California.