Grace E. Howell - Novelist

TRUE FRIENDS
Study Guide

A List of Discussion Questions and Curriculum Connection Activities

Pre-reading

Discussion questions

1. What do you think it was like to live way back in 1918?

2. What was family life like then? What was the role of the mother? The father? The children?

3. What did people do in 1918 for entertainment without television, video games, or radio?

4. Do you think people were as happy then as they are now, or were they happier? Why?

5. What are some of the ways we receive news today?

6. What if we had no television, no Internet, and no radio? How would we get news of what's happening in our city, our country, or anywhere in the world?

Curriculum connection

7. Research to find out what two important world-wide events were taking place in 1918.

8. Write a paragraph about each event.

Chapter 1

1. Why do you think the author wrote the setting at the beginning of the book?

2. Describe the narrator of True Friends?

3. What does "she'd have my hide" mean?

4. Do you think Annie would have preferred a "hiding" to giving up her days with the boys? Why?

5. What do these words on page 1: . . . "a heavy gray stillness had squeezed all the light out of a day that had begun with a sunny sparkle," make you think might happen?

Chapter 2

1. Is it fair that Annie cannot play with the boys when there are no girls in her neighborhood? Why?

2. How does Annie feel about Elvie?

3. Why can't they be friends?

Curriculum connection

4. What was the Great War, and why did it have that name?

Chapter 3

Curriculum connection

1. What kinds of transportation were available in 1918? Make a list.

Chapters 4-5

1. How were the Bolman family and the Davis family alike, and how were they different?

2. How does Annie feel about housework?

3. Would she have felt differently about housework if she had other girls in her neighborhood? Why?

Chapter 6

1. What kind of person does Mrs. Robinson seem to be?

Chapter 7

1. Do you think Aunt Cal likes working for the Robinsons? Why?

2. Why does she work there?

Chapter 8

1. Does Iris Elizabeth seem to be a good friend for Annie? Why?

Chapter 9

1. What do you think of Mr. Robinson?

2. Does Daddy agree with his opinions? How do you know?

3. Why did the author use the N-word at the bottom of page 44?

(Author's note. This word is not in my spoken vocabulary, and its use now is very offensive. I sincerely hope none of you ever say it. In 1918, especially in the South, the word was commonly used to refer to people with dark skin, not necessarily to insult them, but to identify them. I used it in this context on page 44 because that very word was used in the 1918 Memphis newspaper article about the people demanding more than $4.00 for a day's work. In this case, Mr. Robinson would have said it in an insulting manner, the same way he used the word, Hun, to degrade Germans and those of German descent. By the time you finish the story, you will know that Mr. Robinson is not a nice man. He is full of prejudice and hate. The use of the offensive words here help to show his character.)

4. Why did Daddy not respond to the use of that word? Remember that in 1918 in the South, the word was commonly used for Negro, to identify people, not insult them.

(Author's note. Daddy and everybody else in the neighborhood were accustomed to hearing that word. It was not commonly used to degrade or insult people of dark skin, but to identify them the way we now use African American. The term African American had not been created in 1918. True Friends is written from the viewpoint of a 1918 girl so she would not have heard the term African American. Daddy would not have considered the N-word an insult because most people of limited education in the South used the word then, as well as some well-educated people.)

Curriculum connection

4. Look up these words in the dictionary: propagandist, Hun, yellow fever.

5. Find an example of propaganda in today's newspaper.

6. Why would 1918 newspapers have "Hun" in their headlines?

7. Research yellow fever and write a paper that tells how yellow fever is spread, its symptoms, and how to prevent it.

8. Find out how yellow fever affected the history of Memphis?

Chapter 10

1. Do you think Annie likes Iris Elizabeth as much as she likes Rose and Della? Why?

2. Will Iris Elizabeth like Rose and Della?

Curriculum connection

3. Make a list of songs popular in 1918. This will take some research. Do you know any of those songs? How many were patriotic songs? What does that say about how people felt about the Great War?

4. In popular music today, do the words deal with events of interest to people? Give examples.

5. List some of today's popular songs that tell what life is like in the United States.

Chapters 11-12

1. Are Rose and Della really German?

2. Why does Iris Elizabeth say they are?

3. Would you say the Robinsons are prejudiced against Germans? Why?

4. Define prejudice.

5. How do the Robinsons feel about African Americans?

6. How does the Davis family feel about African Americans?

Curriculum Connection

7. In 1918, what was the place or status of most African Americans in northern states? In southern states? Do some research to back up your opinion.

8. What kinds of jobs did African Americans have in 1918? The men? The women?

9. How did the lives of 1918 African Americans compare with other Americans of that time?

10. Research to find what caused changes in the status of African Americans since 1918.

Chapters 13-15

1. Why does everybody seem to like Iris Elizabeth?

2. Would you like her? Why?

3. Why is Charlie Dodd always "pestering" Annie?

4. What is another word for pester?

5. Why does Annie try to be like the other girls?

Chapter 16

1. Why does Iris Elizabeth think Mr. Bolman is a spy?

2. Why does Annie think he is not a spy?

Chapters 17-18

1. Is Annie really the kind of girl Iris Elizabeth likes? Why do you think that?

2. Why does Mama want Annie to stay away from Iris Elizabeth?

3. Why does Annie want to be Iris Elizabeth's friend?

Chapter 19

1. What happened to Rose and Della after their father was attacked?

2. What did Iris Elizabeth say happened to Lenora Hamilton ? (Chapter 8)

3. Do you think the Robinsons had anything to do with the attack on Mr. Bolman? Why?

Chapter 20

1. How does Annie feel about herself now?

2. Why does she feel that way?

3. What does she really think of Iris Elizabeth?

Chapter 21-23

1. How would you feel if you were in Annie's place, taking care of your very sick family with only a brother to help?

2. Do you think Iris Elizabeth called a doctor? Why?

3. After everybody was recovering from the flu, why do you think Annie had never felt so close to her family or so glad to be a Davis?

4. How do you suppose Iris Elizabeth liked staying with the Bolmans?

5. After accusations that he was a German spy, why does Mr. Bolman take food to sick neighbors who may have accused him?

Chapter 24

1. Why did Daddy walk out the back door and trudge down the road?

2. Where do you think he went?

3. How did each member of the Davis family deal with grief?

4. Why do you think Annie was relieved when the helpers left?

Chapter 25

1. Does Annie mind doing housework now? Why?

2. Why does Annie say about Elvie, "she didn't seem like paid help at all,"?

3. Why wouldn't Mrs. Bolman and Aunt Cal say they were friends?

4. Why did the Robinsons want Annie to live with them?

5. Has Annie's opinion of the Robinsons changed? How?

Chapter 26

1. Who are Annie's true friends?

2. Has Annie's character and personality changed during the story? If so, tell how.

3. How is Chapter 2 like Chapter 26? How are they different?

4. What do you think happened to Annie after the story?

Curriculum Connection

5. For each of the families in the story, Davis, Bolman, and Robinson, make a list what is important (values) for that family.

6. List your own family values.

7. Compare the lists. Does the time period a family lives in have anything to do with family values? Consider modern transportation, entertainment, and conveniences before you answer.