Den of Thieves by Julia Golding

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Discussion Questions:

1. Throughout the novel, keep a chart or discussion thread based on the reading strategy SCAMPER - see graphic organizer below

• Setting - keep track of the setting and consider how both time and place affect the plot.
  • For instance, how would this story be different if it took place today? In Africa instead of Europe?
  • Why do you think authors often choose to set novels during times of momentous events or change?
  • Compare/contrast descriptions of Cat's hometown London and Paris. See example below. Use text evidence to support your comparison. These cities and the culture within them play an important role in the novel. Could you make the argument that the cities are also characters in the novel?
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  • There is also a comparison of city vs. country in the novel. What are the pros and cons of living in the city according to Cat? the country? Do you agree/disagree? Why?

• Character - Cat has a lot of friends and enemies in this novel, most of whom are male. Make a chart of all the men/boys in Cat's life and jot down characteristics of her relationship to them. See example below. Consider:
• What does Cat think of them? Use text evidence to support your answer
• What do they think of Cat?
• What motivates them?
• Are they similar to/different from Cat? How so?

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2. Extension Activities:

• Art:
  • make a cockade to support the French Revolution, find instructions at
  • create your own cover of the next installment of the "Tales of Cat of Drury Lane" using the following examples from GoogleBooks and the example on p. 111.
    • 
      
• Dance:
  • go to a ballet performance or have ballet instruction brought to the library,
  • have ballet students visit and present/interview.
  • read articles -
  • read graphic novel -
• Theater: Cat is a child of the theater, and on the pages just before the Prologue, she has named the principal characters in the play that is her life.
  • Take one scene from the story and turn it into a script (either one to be acted or a Reader's Theater script) and perform. Think about how writing a script is different from writing a novel. What changes? What remains the same?
  • Here are some resources on script writing:
    • 
      
• History:
  • Research the French Revolution. How is it similar to/different from the American Revolution?
• Language Arts:
  • Write a letter as if you were JF in answer to Cat's on pp. 411-413
  • Invite a French teacher or native speaker of French to give a lesson or two on the French language
  • Join an epals group with students from Paris to learn about the language and culture
• Culinary Arts:
  • In the novel, JF was quite a good cook. Research French recipes from the time of the Revolution and have a French feast - cook recipes and enjoy a potluck. Compile recipes into a "Cat's Cookbook."

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Book Review: THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Kelly, Jacqueline. 2009. THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

AWARDS/KUDOS: GMA's Best Books for Summer Reading, Amazon.com Best Books of 2009...so far.

FAN SITE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Evolution-of-Calpurnia-Tate/90270728036?v=feed Give the author your ideas for a sequel!

PLOT SUMMARY:
In central Texas in 1899, 11-year-old Callie Vee tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother, learns about love from the older three brothers, and studies the natural world with her grandfather, leading to an important discovery.


REFLECTIONS:
It is fitting that I would read THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE in the middle of a Central Texas summer heatwave, because the novel starts with a statement that is still true today, "By 1899, we had learned to tame the darkness but not the Texas heat." Sitting in the shade of a pecan tree reading the novel, I longed to be like Callie Vee, to strip down to my chemise, jump in the river, enjoy the cool water, becoming "a river cloud, turning gently in the eddies." With details such as the chemise and colorful dialect, author Jacqueline Kelly masterfully intertwines details revealing all that has changed in 100+ years, contrasting it with all that remains the same. Although THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE is a historical novel of central Texas, it is also a timeless story of growing up and self-discovery.

What has changed is the technology; in the novel, Callie Vee's family gets a "wind machine," the town gets a telephone, and an automobile arrives at the county fair. This new technology and the dawn of a new century brings a shift in ideas about what roles men and women should play in society. What hasn't changed is the mix of excitement and trepidation that comes with growing up: recognizing first love, finding out what interests you, discovering that friends and family grow apart, learning to be more independent, and realizing that society may have expectations of you that you may need to challenge. It turns out, for instance, with hilarious complications, that three of Callie's brothers are sweet on her best friend, who seems more fit for romance than the science-loving protagonist, accelerating her own quest to figure out where she fits in the brave new world. Fortunately for Calpernia Virginia Tate, during this hot summer on the verge of a new milennium, she also discovers a kindred spirit and a strong ally in her grandfather.

For anyone who has had a special relationship with a grandparent or extended family member, THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE will ring so true that you'll find yourself setting the book down to reminisce and your heart will fill with even more love for that person. On one of their first nature walks together, Callie Vee and her grandfather are still trying to negotiate the uncharted territory of their newfound friendship when she takes his hand for support. "I...slipped my hand into his. The palm was calloused and weathered, the nails thick and curved, a miraculous construction of leather and horn. My grandfather looked startled, then pleased, I think, although I couldn't tell for sure. Nevertheless, his hand closed on mine."

It is in the relationship with Captain Tate, Callie Vee's grandfather that the novel takes on an unusual character, in that it describes in detail, how to be a naturalist and scientist. As with the historical and setting-specific details, the author has a light touch, so that the reader doesn't feel that he or she is being lectured to about the scientific method, but rather that, like Callie Vee, we are soaking up all the wisdom that grandfather can impart. As she begins to observe the natural world more closely, her family also comes into sharper focus, and Callie Vee ends the year much wiser and happier than she started the summer.

I won't give away the great discoveries that the pair make both in science and life, but the reading public has discovered an entertaining and thoughtful new voice in Jacqueline Kennedy. Her own expertise in science (she is a physician in Austin), I think, aids in the naturalness of the description in the novel, and her wry humor often transcends the young adult genre, so that I think both young adults and adults alike would enjoy the book. As a girl, I loved Little House on the Prarie, and THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE reminded me of it to the extent that Callie's voice is so entertaining, and that all the characters are strongly drawn that I hope she will write a sequel. I'd like to know whether Harry goes to university or ditches it all for the lovely Fern, whether Lula does indeed fall for one of Callie's brothers, whether grandfather gets to ride in an automobile after all, and whether Callie can check off any of her New Year's resolutions.

So, although THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE is a historical novel, it transcends its setting, revealing a timeless character in Callie Vee, whose sense of humor and good-hearted gumption will leave you wanting more. Bring on the sequel!

CONNECTIONS:
*General: This would be a fantastic book for an all-city One Book or community read. It would appeal to young adults, upper elementary, and adults alike, especially those of us who live in or have lived in rural Texas communities.
*Science and Critical Thinking: The descriptions of Texas wildlife and the scientific method lend themselves to reading the book aloud (in particular the passage beginning on p. 103 which describes collecting and looking at pond water through a microscope, taking detailed notes, then researching in the library), and then conducting field research around the school. A good companion book would be FROG SCIENTIST which details Dr. Tyrone Hayes and his students studying frogs in the field.
*Social Studies and Critical Thinking: This book is packed with anecdotes from Texas History - from the description of Austin in 1899, to a story about a bat caught in a battle along the Sabine River (p.40), along with the well-researched details of daily life in Texas at that time. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the cotton harvest and gin (p. 197), and it would be great to take 7th grade students out to Burton, TX to see the running of the oldest operational cotton gin in America. See http://www.cottonginfestival.com/ for more information.

Book Review: IF THE WITNESS LIED
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cooney, Caroline B. 2009. IF THE WITNESS LIED. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
The four Fountain children are orphans. First, their mother dies of cancer shortly after the birth of her fourth child, Tris, and because she chose to have the baby rather than chemo, Tris’s birth becomes a media flashpoint. Then, soon after the mother’s death, the father is killed in a freak accident by Tris, turning the toddler into an even bigger headline. But with the family disintegrating and the children’s guardian selling the story to make a docudrama, the three older siblings don’t know who to trust or how to protect little Tris from the true evil lurking in their lives.

3. REFLECTIONS:
Caroline B. Cooney, famed author of THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON, has penned another tightly packed thriller in this realistic drama. Somehow, she has managed to create a story which both unwinds and winds up at the same time. By offering different perspectives on the Fountain family’s tragedies (each sibling, the siblings’ friends, Tris’s babysitter, school officials, and the media) details of both the mother’s slow death during her pregnancy with Tris, and the sudden death of Tris’s father in a freak accident, unwind the story which has been twisted by TV, and each brother or sister’s feelings of guilt. At the same time, Tris’s two sisters, Madison and Smith, and brother Jack become bound more and more tightly by the realization that their “Aunt” Cheryl has not only sold their story to a TV show intent on presenting it as a “docudrama,” but also may have killed their father, then lied about it to make Tris caused the accident.

A master storyteller, Cooney winds up the tension as the three kids, along with their friend and Tris’s babysitter try to solve the crime while protecting Tris from the TV spotlight and “Aunt” Cheryl. I found myself rooting right along with “Team Tris” as they call themselves, and trying to figure out how four high school kids could possibly thwart an evil adult who has legal custody of the family and evade the media at the same time. By the end, the book is impossible to put down, and although some critics have lamented that the title gives away Aunt Cheryl’s crime and that the ending is a bit too tidy, this isn’t really a mystery, but rather a thriller, so the question isn’t what did the aunt do, but why and how can the kids prove it. As far as the tidy ending is concerned, the entire novel hints at divine intervention – the fact that Tris’s two older sisters decide to come home on the same day, and that Jack decides to cut school and go home, fearing that Cheryl will throw out treasured possessions that belonged to the parents – possessions which ultimately the aunt’s true crimes. Each sibling wonders at some point if the parents are trying to send them a message, and an underlying theme of the book is faith, so when the grandparents show up at the end to help save the day, it may just be another example of heavenly help.

Regardless, IF THE WITNESS LIED is more about the strength of family and friends, healing and trust, and less about a crime and how it’s solved, so inconsistencies and tidy resolutions can be, in my opinion, dismissed. The novel also brings up many ethical questions about the role of the media in the lives of ordinary people who have suffered a tragedy. Reading IF THE WITNESS LIED during the coverage and frenzy surrounding the early passing of Michael Jackson led me to think again and again of his children and how they will manage to heal under the seemingly insatiable public eye. Hopefully, young adults who read the novel will come away having been entertained, but also with empathy for those who end up front page news.
IF THE WITNESS LIED will appeal to anyone who enjoys realistic thrillers/dramas, such as April Henry’s SHOCKPOINT, Sarah Dessen’s novels, or THE BLUFORD HIGH series.


4. CONNECTIONS:
*Science and Critical Thinking: While reading the book, students could chart the clues and use a series such as 24/7: Science Behind the Scenes Forensic Files to write a continuation of the story, building a legal case against “Aunt” Cheryl with the evidence found by the characters in IF THE WITNESS LIED.

*ELA and Critical Thinking: IF THE WITNESS LIED brings up a bevy of questions about the ethics of media coverage and the rights of minors. After brainstorming the questions raised by the novel, students could form teams and research issues such as who gets custody of children after the death of parents, at what age should a sibling be allowed to become guardian of a younger sibling, what laws could protect minors from unscrupulous guardians, how can minors be protected from invasive media coverage, what should/shouldn’t the media cover, etc. The topics could then be discussed in terms of pros and cons and the class could engage in a debate. It would be an excellent way to get students to use text/factual evidence to support opinions.

Book Review: PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE
Book One in the series: The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Low, Dene. 2009. PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE: ENTOMOLOGICAL TALES OF AUGUSTUS T. PERCIVAL. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
16-year-old upper-class English girl Petronella Arbuthnot only has thoughts of her coming out party and her best friend Jane’s dreamy older brother James, when her whole world is turned upside down by a double kidnapping, ransom notes, and the strange bug-eating behavior of her uncle and guardian, Augustus T. Percival. What ensues is a wonderful romp through British manners and mores as Petronella, her friends, her uncle, assorted relatives, and even her butler attempt to apprehend the kidnappers, avoid an international incident, and save the day.

3. REFLECTIONS:
Mysteries are not normally my genre, but PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE is charming, funny, and filled with enough non-stop action that any reader who enjoys a spunky heroine will love it. Set in Victorian England, the mystery pokes good-natured fun at the manners and mores of the British, while touching on historical events such as the building of the Panama Canal, the invention of the telephone, and the discovery that mosquitoes carried yellow fever and malaria.

Having lived in England during my own middle school years, I enjoyed the setting and the dialogue immensely. The author captures the dialect of both the upper and lower classes well. For instance, the thoroughly aristocratic love interest James has a penchant for calling people “old egg” and “old stick” and teasing the main character by saying, “…you have said nothing about my hirsute splendor. Your curls, by the way, are ravishing, and if I were not currently enamored of a chit playing the part of Isabelle in the West End, I would be in danger of losing my heart.” (p.10) Other characters, such as a street vendor, speak with a heavy Cockney accent, remarking to Petronella, “Laws, no, dearie. Sorry to say, I ain’t seen no one like that. ‘Ope you finds ‘im, I do.” Petronella’s own narration is as funny and astute as any of the characters’, and readers who enjoy witty wordplay will find themselves chuckling out loud.

PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE isn’t simply a historical mystery, however. Much like Meg Cabot’s series THE MEDIATOR, author Dene Low deftly weaves humor and romance into the story, making it at once a fun and “frothy” romp (in the words of reviewer Caroline Severmer) that many of the middle grade girls who crave smart romance without the mean girls and gossip of other series will enjoy.

Sadly, while Petronella saves nearly everyone (you’ll have to read to find out why only nearly everyone is saved), she doesn’t get the boy, James, although there is enough handholding, accidental embracing, and eye-gazing to give us all hope that in the books to come the mystery and romance will only increase!

4. CONNECTIONS:
*Science: As an “entomological tale,” the novel introduces many fascinating facts about bugs, the first of which is that bugs are regularly eaten in some cultures, and sometimes by unsuspecting British uncles! It would be great to pair the novel with IT’S DISGUSTING AND WE ATE IT by James Solheim.

This short nonfiction title has eye-catching illustrations and tells the history of strange things eaten by cultures around the world. (Thank you to Cheri Cowart for donating a copy to the TMS library!) In addition, science teachers could incorporate a webquest or even field trip (if in the Austin, Texas area) of the Texas Natural Science Museum’s exhibit “Winged Wonders” which explains not only the science of winged flight, but also how insects produce the beautiful and diverse colors we see on their wings. (http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/exhibits/winged_wonders/index.html)