Real Benjamin Buttons Brothers: Matthew And Michael Clark Are Aging Backwards (1160l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet

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Vale Middle School Reading Article
Real Benjamin Buttons Brothers: Matthew and Michael Clark are Aging Backwards (1160L)
Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES
Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.
Your notes should include:
o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main
idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)
o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.
o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.
o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,
support) and choices affect the article.
Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment.
Answer the questions carefully in complete sentences unless otherwise instructed.
Student ____________________________Class Period__________________
Notes on my thoughts,
Real Benjamin Buttons Brothers: Matthew and Michael Clark are
reactions and questions as I
Aging Backwards
read:
By the looks of their home, Tony and Christine Clark are raising two rambunctious 7-
year-old boys. Model train tracks and Monopoly pieces are scattered on tables and
cartoons flicker on the TV set.
But the Clarks' two sons are grown men who share only the same interests and
emotional fluctuations of little boys. Like the character portrayed by Brad Pitt in the
2008 film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons," Matthew, 39, and Michael, 42, are
aging backwards.
The brothers were diagnosed with a terminal form of leukodystrophy, one of a group of
extremely rare genetic disorders that attack the myelin, or white matter, in the nervous
system, spinal cord, and brain. In the Clarks' case, the condition has not only eroded
their physical capacities, but their emotional and mental states as well.
Only six years ago, both brothers were holding down jobs and growing their families.
Today, they spend their days in the care of their parents, both in their sixties, playing
with Mr. Potato Head, fighting over Monopoly, and in rare lucid moments, struggling to
understand why their lives have changed so dramatically.
Before the Clark Brothers were diagnosed, they were living independent lives. Michael
served in the Royal Air Force and later became a cabinet maker. Matthew worked in a
factory and was raising a teenage daughter. Tony and Christine, meanwhile, had retired
and moved from the UK to Spain. Then in 2007, both of their sons fell off the radar.
Weiss, P., Real Benjamin Buttons brothers: Matthew and Michael Clark are aging backwards. Healthy Living. November
26, 2012.

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