FORSAKING MIMOSA

Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion

  1. Who are the parental figures in this story? How do the nuns influence the lives of Max and the other students?

  2. Aunt Jimalou never seems to take an active part in the book. How does her influence infiltrate the story?

  3. What is the significance of Dewey’s marble for Max?

  4. What message does Papa convey at the end of the book?

  5. How and when does Adele’s attitude toward the nuns change?

  6. How does Inez Rhinehart feel in the company of nuns? Why?

  7. How does teaching Lazarus change the way Sister Clare sees her vocation?

  8. How does Josef Brinkmann relate to his family?

  9. After being warned about the possibility of encountering panthers in the woods, the Brinkmanns discover a kitten at their back door. What message, if any, does this convey?

  10. Does Mary Meow serve as a larger metaphor in the story?

  11. What kind of person is Nora Brinkmann?

  12. How does Uncle Jude influence Max?

  13. Which character do you identify with the most? The least?

  14. Explain the relationship between Max and Lazarus.

  15. Which character changes the most?

 

THE DANCE BETWEEN

Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion

  1. How does the epigraph by Tony Robbins relate to the story?

  2. How did Mrs. Lunceford’s disease affect Beth? Leonie? Margie?

  3. What is Beth’s greatest fear concerning Mrs. Lunceford?

  4. Why do you think Leonie’s grandmother bought her a Chatty Cathy?

  5. Why did Mr. Lunceford have his monkeys? What purpose did they serve?

  6. What was behind Beth’s fear of dogs?

  7. Beth felt differently about cats. Why?

  8. How do Max and Adele deal with their daughter’s fears?

  9. What kind of person was Lola? Do you think she and Beth could ever be friends?

  10. What is the significance of the buttercup flowers?

  11. How does the relationship between Beth, Leonie and Mrs. Lunceford change throughout the story?

  12. Who gave Beth and her family the puppy named Buttercup?

  13. How does Aunt Ida relate to others in her neighborhood?

  14. How does Aunt Ida affect Adele?

  15. Who is the heroine of the story?