The Bookwoman's Daughter, by Kim Michele Richardson

 

Characters
Honey Mary-Angeline Lovett Willie – dad Angeline – mother, bluet Cussy Carter Lovett – birth mother, bluet, pack horse librarian   Junia - mule   Loretta “Retta” Adams – legal guardian when parents arrested Alonza - nephew   Devil John – moonshine Martha Hannah – wife Carson – son   Bob Morgan – lawyer   Pearl Grant – fire-tower watcher   R. C.  – first fire-tower watcher, promoted Ruth – wife   Robbie Hardin – wanted watchtower job, vandalism   Perry Gillis – abusive, killed by rooster Guyla Belle – wife Johnie – son, fell down well   Sherriff Buckner – Perry Gillis’ relative   Bonnie Powell – female miner   Francis Moore – works in company store   Wrenna Abbott - age 10 Rooster Emma McCain – great-grandmother   Amara Ballard – frontier nurse   Doctor Millie - wife	Library and Patrons
	Eula Foster – library director Harriett Hardin – librarian Oren Taft – librarian   Honey’s book route:   Monday School – Principal Walker Emma McCain and Wrenna Mrs. Moore – Francis’ mother   Wednesday Mr. Cecil and Charlotte Martha Hannah Pearl Grant – watchtower   Thursday Tobacco Top community Bonnie Powell Doctor and Millie   Friday Bonnie Powell Pete and Franklin Duncan Amara Ballard Guyla Gillis – leave secret signal when safe to leave books

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did the author describe the emotions of the characters so that you were able to understand them?  Was fear the main emotion – Honey, Pearl, Guyla Belle?   Any other important feelings in the novel?

2.       What characters were your favorites?

3.       Discuss being different from the norm in society.  Is it possible that we are all different in one way or another?

4.       The doctor invited Honey to eat dinner and told her, “A man can’t be both smart and hungry at the same time.  Now is the time to be smart” (page 193).  How does this relate to the food crisis in many families?

5.       If you were Honey, would you take the medicine to make the blue disappear?  Her mother told her, “our color – any color – is not a poison and doesn’t need fixing” (page 193).

6.       The story was set in the 1950s.  Could you relate to the following:

a.       Avon make-up available then and now

b.       Piercing ears with a needle and potato

7.       Are there lessons to be learned from this book for today’s world?

8.       Did you enjoy reading the book?

9.       What were your favorite parts of the story?

10.   There were many quotes in the novel about books and reading.   Which ones were meaningful to you?  Some of them are:

a.       “You grow readers, expand minds, if you let them chooses, but you go banning a read, you stunt the whole community.” Mother to Honey, page 52.

b.       “books can soothe all matters of the heart” Oren Taft to Honey, page 133.

c.       “Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” Napoleon Bonaparte, front piece.

d.       Cussy to judge as a young boy: “Books are the cornerstone to greater minds” – page 307.