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Questions composed by Roberta S. Johnson, Susan McGowan, and Rebecca Vnuk

China Boy by Gus Lee:

A young boy finds a way to fit in to the rough streets of 1950s Chinatown when he takes his first boxing lesson.

Polar Dream by Helen Thayer:

A 50-year-old woman makes a dream come true by traveling to the magnetic North Pole with only a Siberian Husky as a companion.

Serving in Silence by Margarethe Cammermeyer:

The autobiography of a much-honored military nurse, who received a dishonorable discharge when she told her superiors she was a lesbian.

Snow in August by Pete Hamill:

An unlikely friendship between an Irish Catholic boy and an elderly rabbi from Prague is at the heart of this magical, beautiful novel set in 1940s Brooklyn.

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose:

The epic retelling of the journeys of Lewis and Clark bring to life not only the explorers themselves but their legendary contemporaries and the unspoiled natural world through which they traveled.

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen:

A loving granddaughter attempts to reveal the mysterious past of her grandmother, who claimed on her deathbed to be the princess in the story of Briar Rose, better known as Sleeping Beauty in the castle of thorns.

Dream of Water and Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori:

A pair of books, one fiction and one nonfiction, based on the life of a Japanese woman whose mother committed suicide when she was twelve, leaving her in the care of a neglectful father and self-absorbed stepmother.

Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon:

The young couple who accompanied the Lincoln on their fateful outing to Ford's Theatre are the subjects of this subtle historical novel.

Reviving Ophelia by Mary Bray Pipher:

A veteran family counselor examines the dillemas and problems that face adolescent (11 - 18) girls in today's society, both physical and emotional, and how parents can support and protect their children.

China Boy
by Gus Lee

Author Biography

Augustus Samuel Mein-Sun Lee was born August 8, 1946 in San Francisco, the first son and youngest of five children of Tsung-Chi Lee and Da-Tsien Tsu. The novel China Boy (1991) is a thinly disguised narration of his childhood, first as the adoring and adored son of his real mother, and after she died of breast cancer, as the seven-year-old outcast of both the streets and his stepmother's tightly run household. Fulfilling his father's dream, Gus Lee went to West Point (as "Kai's" story continues in Honor and Duty, 1994), but left after three years because he could not master the academy's standards for mathematics and engineering. He went on to get his B.A. and L.L.B. degrees from the University of California at Davis, and while there served as the assistant dean of students for the Educational Opportunity Program as well as project coordinator of the Asian American Studies program. Upon receiving his law degree in 1976, he entered the Army and served as a prosecutor and judge advocate. He was never sent to Vietnam, as his superiors were reluctant to put an Asian soldier in a command position, but went to Korea to investigate those recruits who were foreign nationals. This experience was the basis for the novel Tiger's Tail (1996). Upon leaving the Army, he returned to California to practice as an attorney and legal educator.

Lee had never considered writing anything other than legal briefs until his then seven-year-old daughter Jena asked him about her Chinese grandmother. While collecting memories and family history from his four sisters and other family members, Lee started writing a family journal, but his wife Diane declared that he had the basis for a book. He described the three month writing process as "going down whitewater rapids. The other books took much more navigation and thought." (Publishers Weekly, 1996). Reluctant to publish the journal because of the unflattering descriptions of some of his family, and knowing how it would hurt his father (his stepmother having died in 1975), he changed the names and sold it as fiction.

The tremendous success of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan two years earlier created a wonderful opportunity for Asian-American writers. As Lee says, she "opened the floodgates for the rest of us," combining "the tremendous excitement of learning about a new culture" with "universal feelings and experiences -- love, honor, betrayal and family bonds." (Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, 1996).

Gus Lee, his wife and their two daughters now live in Colorado Springs, having moved there from the Bay Area when Lee decided to pursue writing as a full-time career. His newest novel, tentatively titled "Methods of Death," is forthcoming.

Discussion Questions

How does the author use humor to distance himself (and the reader?) from terrible circumstances?

Do you feel he exaggerated the character of his stepmother at all? How would his memories (as a six-year-old boy) reflect reality?

How successful is Lee at concealing the autobiographical nature of the novel? How can the reader tell that this is a true story? Is "Norman Schwarzedd" really Norman Schwarzkopf -- or just named after him?

What is the author's final decision on the necessity and value of fighting?

Is this a portrait of the Chinese community in America, or is it just one person's story?

How is this a "masculine" story?

Of plot, character, or style, what do you think is the author's foremost writing strength?

What do you think happened after the last sentence of the book?

Polar Dream
by Helen Thayer

For loads of information on the Thayers and their remarkable adventures, visit The Thayer Expeditions.

Thoughts for discussion:

Considering the threats to her expedition, should Thayer have given up at any point? What made her able to continue past normal endurance? Which helped her more; emotional or physical discipline?

Does she make it seem like an expedition that any healthy, fit person could undertake? What character traits does she have that make this kind of adventure seem normal for her?

Was the bond between her and Charlie created solely by their common experience? Of he gave her security and company, what did she offer him? What else did their relationship give them?

What do you think her friends and family thought of her goal? Do you think they felt less worried because they were in radio contact with her every day?

What is the most interesting or successful element of the book? The adventure itself? The way the story is told? The relationship between Helen and Charlie?

Do you expect the same quality of writing from a nonfiction book like this one? If the writing is not brilliant, does the adventure or experience retold make the book worthwhile? (One of our group members said that this kind of story was "a gift from the author, and we should not judge it as art, but simply be glad she shared her experience.")

If you could do something like this, what would it be?

Serving in Silence
by Margarethe Cammermeyer

Thoughts for discussion:

To what extent does a person's private life influence their professional life? What do your supervisors have a right to know about you?

If we presume that sexuality makes a difference in functioning on the job, are we saying that people can't control themselves?

Why is it important that the author tell her entire life story, not just her military experience, or her discovery that she was a lesbian?

The author says on page 26 that she had no context in which to put her feelings (a crush on a female high school teacher). How would things be different for a young person attracted to someone of the same sex today? How are they the same?

What is it about military service that the author loves? How did the Army reward her over the years? How do Cammermeyer and her ex-husband represent different aspects of military culture?

Why has the military led America on several difficult issues (desegregation, women in service) but been unwilling to approach the issue of homosexuals in service?

Why does Harvey feel such betrayal and hatred toward his wife, someone he had loved very much? Why did he try to use his children as weapons against her?

Which "divorce" do you think was more painful for the author: the separation from her husband or the separation (after 26 years) from the military?

Should Cammermeyer have tried to retain custody of her children? What do you think about the way she handled their loss?

How did the author hide from or deny her own sexuality?

Snow in August
by Pete Hamill

Many of the events and locations in the novel are true, although Hamill says he changed all the street names and some of the geography from where he grew up. There is a pool room, although he moved it across the street, and there was a great blizzard in 1947 in New York. The New York Daily News also exists of course, and Hamill was the editor of the paper for about nine months in 1997, before he left, citing differences with newspaper's owner Mort Zuckerman.

Discussion Questions:

What are the themes of the novel? If you were to put the main theme in a sentence, what would you say?

Is Michael an authentic eleven year old boy? How does Hamill flatter his childhood self?

How does chance affect important events in the book? How are these events "acts of God"? Why are Michael and the Rabbi brought together?

Why is baseball so important to Rabbi Hirsch? Why does he relate so strongly to Jackie Robinson?

What do the American veterans bring home from the War? How are their attitudes and lives changed from what they have experienced? How do these attitudes change from those of the refugees and immigrants from Europe?

Does Hamill write as if he he wants these Brooklyn days to return? Does he see the past through rose-colored glasses? Is this a nostalgic or sentimental novel?

What is the significance of the "magic words" (Shazam, the secret name of God) in the book? What other magic words are there for the characters? For us today?

Hamill describes reading as a "creative act." What did you create in your mind when you read Snow in August? What role does the author play in this creative act?

An online fan of the novel, himself a Rabbi, described Snow in August as "the latest work by Chaim Potok . . . written under the pen name of Pete Hamill." What is your response to this comment?

About the ending:

There are many mythological elements in the novel: comic books, Irish and Jewish magic and myth, even baseball mythology. How do these elements fit in with the ending?

If you didn't like the ending, how would you have rewritten the final chapter? How would that change the feel and the message of the book? What bothered you about the ending?

Undaunted Courage
by Stephen Ambrose

See also the extensive online reading guide at Simon Says.com.

Thoughts for Discussion:

What are some of the elements that can make a nonfiction book "read like fiction"? Does Undaunted Courage have those elements? What value is there in making history "entertaining"? What harm is there?

How have our opinions of Lewis and his epic journey changed since he made it? How do we view the 18th century American's desire for land and their relentless drive West? If we respect Lewis and Clark, why do we feel that way?

Should the book have focused more narrowly on the actual journey of the explorers? What is added to the story by understanding the relationship of Jefferson and Lewis, or of Lewis' decline in his post-expedition career?

Do you think the author makes objective and reasonable interpretations from the journals of Lewis? What about Ambrose's conclusions about Lewis' death?

Is there any present day equivalent to the Corps of Discovery?

Briar Rose
by Jane Yolen

For other contemporary versions of classic fairy tales for adults, try:

Beauty by Robin McKinley
The Godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
Jack the Giant Killer by Charles de Lint
Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia Wrede

Shizuko's Daughter and The Dream Of Water
by Kyoko Mori

Kyoko Mori, now a college professor in Wisconsin, wrote the young adult novel, Shizuko's Daughter, in 1993. The novel was based on the personal tragedy that affected her own early life in Japan. Two years later, Mori decided to tell the true story of those years and their effect on her later life in the memoir, The Dream of Water.

Discussion Questions:

In Shizuko's Daughter, Yuki is a survivor. What allows her to go on, despite her mother's suicide and the abuse of her father and his second wife?

Does Mori's portrayal of her father or her stepmother seem to be a fair one? In either book? 

What is Yuki's ultimate belief about love? Is it different than the author's own belief? 

In The Dream of Water, the author points out the differences between norms of behavior in Japan and in the West. Was Mori helped or hurt by these differences? 

Should Mori have forgiven her father? 

Mori chose to change some of the facts of her story for the novel version. Why do you think the author made the changes? 

Shizuko's Daughterwas written as fiction, and The Dream of Water as non-fiction. It has been said that there are always elements of fiction in memoirs. Do you agree in this case?

Henry and Clara
by Thomas Mallon

Discussion Questions

Henry and Clara operates on three levels:

The personal - the characters individually.
How would you describe Henry? Clara?

The interpersonal - how the characters relate to one another, and the societal conventions of the day.
What is the relationship like between Henry and the family?
Clara and the family?
What do you make of Clara's friendship with Mrs. Lincoln?

The historical- the shooting of Abraham Lincoln.
Of course, we know nothing about the personal lives of the title characters, but does Mallon manage to present a reasonable look at life in the 19th century?
Henry is haunted by the fact he was not able to do anything that fateful night. How does this contribute to his mental decline?
Does the love story ring true?
What do you think would have been the outcome if they had not been present at the assassination? Would Henry still have ended up such a disturbed individual?

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
by Mary Bray Pipher

Mary Pipher, PhD., a psychologist with a private practice in Lincoln, Nebraska, attempts to explain the problems and pressures on teenage girls in this groundbreaking book.

Discussion Questions

Pipher contends that we live in a looks-obsessed, media-saturated culture. Do you agree that this "junk culture" poisons young girls?

What other factors does Pipher blame for the apparent rise in teenage angst?

What do you think our society can do to correct these problems?

Do you feel sympathetic towards these young women? Or do you feel "fed up" with them?

Do you feel that girls today truly have a harder time growing up than girls in previous generations?

Do you think Pipher tells these stories in a neutral, respectful tone? Or does she try to play on your emotions?

Is this book encouraging? Positive?

Or did you find it enabling or discouraging?

www.webrary.org/RS/TOL98.html
First published on the Web: 1/26/1998
Last updated: 11/6/2000