"Devoto writes beautifully......Like To Kill A Mockingbird, this book paints a distinctly Southern picture of friendship, justice, and the bond between outcasts."
-St Petersburg Times

"The literary love child of Harper Lee and Mark Twain....With such a delightful debut, her next appearance in print can't come too soon."
- Booklist (stared review)

"Engaging...graceful....(with)characters finely drawn...Devoto has an ear and eye for the vagaries of family and loyalty." -Denver Post

"Offers up a huge, delicious helping of life, Southern style....Made me smile and, at times, laugh out loud."
-Birmingham News

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What does the title of the book imply?

2. Do you think the fear of polio in the 1950s compares with the present day fear of AIDS? Also, do you think that great fear of a disease can sometimes have a devastating effect that is equal to that of the disease itself?

4. Do you think that Tab's grandmother wants Tab's mother to fit in because she is afraid her daughter-in-law will embarrass her or is she trying to be helpful?

7. The Reverend Mengert plays several roles in the novel: friend to Tab's father, confident, almost conspirator to Grace Poovey, moral conscience for the town. Do you think these roles are important for the church representative to fullfill? Which role is the most important

11. When Maudie May says her dream is to be a famous teacher, what is her motivation? Do you think that she fulfilled her dream, whether or not she had polio?

14. Some sociologists think the primary socializing factor for children in the fifties and sixties was family and today that it is the media. Do you think this is true? Why or why not?

15. What do you think really happens to Maudie May?

Just then the lockmaster's horn split the air.   "We're doomed," I sobbed, and let my paddle go slack in the water.
"That's it," Maudie pointed.   The kudzu vines.   We gonna make the hideout behind the vines underneath the pine trees."   All I could see was a dirt road --- and a bunch of kudzu vines strangling the pine trees. "Maudie," I screamed, "I told you people could get killed out here, didn't I?" I told you about the fisherman who got drowned when he was hit by a barge, didn't I?   This is all your fault," I raged. Mother and Pop decided to get married and come back to live on the old plantation.   Only mother said, she would just as soon live in town with paved streets and indoor bathrooms and cars and things like Mama was used to in the city.