Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
August 1998
Prairie Reunion
by Barbara J. Scot
- What aspect of this book did you like most? What did you like least? Why?
- This book has the structure of a heroine's quest. What does Scot say she is searching for? When/how/why does her goal change?
- Scot gives us a great many details of her mother's relationship to her father (particularly in Chapter 8). But she also tells us about some of the events of her own life. What are these events? How are they revealed? Can you trace out Scot's own story from the bits of information she offers here and there? Why didn't Scot make it easier for us to understand what happened to her?
- One strand of Scot's story has to do with her connection to the land. What does the land mean to her? Why? How would this story have been different if these had been city people? Could these events have taken place in, say, Boston?
- Scot's researches take her deep into the history of previous generations of her family and of her family's church. How are these two strands interwoven? How does this material illuminate her mother's life choices?
- Authors can tell their stories chronologically, as Maya Angelou does, or they can manipulate time through flashbacks and flashforwards. How does Scot tell her story? How does her method of telling affect your reading and understanding?
- What role does the character of Vaneta play in this story? Why was it necessary to include her?
- The book includes photographs, a family tree, and a map. What function do these additions serve in the text? How do they affect your reading of the story?
- Do you have a mystery in your family? If so, how would you go about attempting to unravel it? Is there a sense in which that mystery is embedded or reflected in your own life?
- This book grows out of a central question similar to that of An Unknown Woman. What is the question? Whose question is it? Why is it important?