I Miss the Rain in Africa by Nancy Wesson Discussion Questions

I Miss the Rain in Africa by Nancy Wesson Discussion Questions

Title: I Miss the Rain in Africa: Peace Corps as a Third Act

Author: Nancy Wesson

Publisher: Modern History Press

Publisher Website Address: www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Publisher Email Address: info@ModernHistoryPress.com

ISBN-10: 1615995757

ISBN-13: 978-1615995752

ASIN: B0949MFWP6

Page Count: 296 pages

Formats (P.B., H.C., Kindle)

Price: $24.95 Paperback, $37.95 Hardcover, $7.95 Kindle

Discussion and Book Review by Carolyn Wilhelm

This book is a marathon of learning about northern Uganda, the Peace Corps there, and the many difficulties Wesson experienced along the way to her ultimately successful projects to help the population. Some books leave us exhausted and perhaps depressed at the end, but this author manages to shine a light on the positive aspects of her experiences in Africa. She does still miss the rain. 

Discussion questions for book clubs and secondary teachers

1. Why did Wesson end up in Uganda? Where was she supposed to go at first? Do you think she realized how Peace Corps Volunteers would be housed? What is the name of chapter one, and why? 

2. How did the most recent war led by Kony leave the citizens with almost insurmountable problems? What were his weapons? Where is he now? Can you imagine living through such an ordeal? 

3. Given the situation of most of the people in northern Uganda, how do you think the Peace Corps Volunteers felt about how effective they could be at first? How did Wesson's thoughts change near the end of the book as she reflected on her projects?

4. Explain travel difficulties from the point of view of a Westerner in Uganda. 

5. Why was the southern part of Uganda so different from the north? 

6. Of the 46 volunteers, 34 remained after about a year. What do you think caused some people to leave? Was it understandable or not?

7. How did the pillowcases project begin and develop? Did it surprise you that Wesson had to design her projects, such as the children's library? Were you expecting the Peace Corps would have had job descriptions and just sent people to locations to fit into predetermined roles? 

8. How was time different in Africa? How were schedules for travel different? 

9. Discuss the story Wesson shared about getting dental help, traveling in the mud and dark on the way to and from the bus station.

10. Why was returning home also a challenge? How had things changed? How had the author changed?

Carolyn Wilhelm is a veteran educator and author. She contributes study guides for books and film to this blog frequently. She says, "We hope you like our discussion questions! We have others found by checking this link. Thank you for reading, Carolyn" 

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author, a veteran educator and also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Stories of Your Life by Ted Chang and Arrival the Movie Discussion Questions

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Stories of Your Life and Other Stories by Ted Chiang 
and Arrival the Movie Discussion Questions

Stories of Your Life and Other Stories was written by Ted Chiang. Arrival, the movie, is based on a single chapter entitled (not surprisingly) "Stories of your Life." After watching the movie, I was inspired to read the book thinking it was based on a novel. So, I had to make do with the one chapter that really didn't explain that much more about the movie. The movie does leave a person wondering. However, the book is still worthy because of all the other stories. Ted Chiang's book, Exhalation, was on a summer reading list by former President Obama.

If a book club has read the book or watched the movie, these questions are on a PDF instant download available at the next link. Click for your own copy.

Free PDF download with the questions for the book and movie

Now for the book questions. Ah, Chiang seems to be somewhat of a technical writer and we must use our inferring reading and thinking skills to figure out what he means. This makes for a great book club discussion, while not an easy one. He offers us some thinking challenges.

My questions probably do not do the book justice as it is quite deep. A book club might take the discussion deeper, after beginning with the handout. 

You might also enjoy the discussion questions for the books and movies, The Green Book, as well as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Thank you for reading, Carolyn Wilhelm from the Wise Owl Factory


MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Crazy Rich Asians Book and Movie Discussion Questions

Crazy Rich Asians Book and Movie Discussion Questions

The book and movie versions of Crazy Rich Asians is crazy so popular. Your book club or coffee group might like to have discussion question handout for each. Click on the next link for a free instant download of the free PDF. 

Book and Movie Discussion Questions for Crazy Rich Asians

The PDF has the book group questions first.

Page 2 has the movie discussion questions.

I am in a book club that always seems to read old, old books. There is nothing wrong with that, but the reason is we cannot get discussion questions for newer books. So I would like book groups to have a choice of more current reading materials as well as the older books that the library offers. The book sets from our library include discussion guides, and we check out a book for the month. When we meet again, we return our books to the library bag and check out another book. 

For newly published books, it could be a combination of eBooks people might buy, books from the library, and maybe some people purchase their own books. Sharing books is always good. Or a group might opt to see a movie based on a movie once in a while. Groups might have to be a little more flexible when selecting more recent reading materials.

Feel free to share on social media. 

Thank you for reading, Carolyn from The Wise Owl Factory

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS AND ANOTHER FREEBIE

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) It has 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shoutout praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines in the left column of this page or in the tab at the top of the home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Discussion Questions

I am so proud to announce this first in a series of Discussion Questions about books (and movies inspired by books!) by veteran teacher Carolyn Wilhelm who offers other aids for teachers, parents, and anyone who fosters literacy--many of them absolutely free. Find them on Pinterest and follow her @wiseowlfactory on Twitter.  Book club groups and library events directors will find her Discussion Guide Series useful, too!  And what about teachers who must prepare quizzes for reading assignments! Watch for new ones on the 5th of every month, right here on #TheNewBookReview!

Questions About THE HOBBIT:

An Unexpected Journey

Discussion Questions

Movie on DVD

Paperback

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the 1st third of the Hobbit book.  It's the prequel to Lord of the Rings.

Before vacation, sometimes teachers have been known to show a movie, and some classes might watch The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey (movie). Movies work with comprehension questions as test preparation practice. The PDF could be used as a discussion guide for the teacher or students might work in small groups to see if they can remember what they saw. Answers are provided in the PDF at the next link. 

Unexpected Journey comprehension questions free instant download by clicking on this link

    1. Who was telling (writing) the story in the movie? 

2. What happened to ruin the peaceful, prosperous Lonely Mountain and the Mines of Moria? 

3. Why do the Dwarves want their ancestral home back? 

4. Why does Thorin especially want to fight the pale Orc? 

5. How does Bilbo Baggins become involved in the quest to enter Lonely Mountain?

6. Why does the company need Bilbo’s help? 

7. Which groups in the story especially love food? 

8. Do the Dwarves have good table manners?  Explain.

9.  Did you notice the map in the beginning of the story?  Is it important later? Why?

10. How does the company escape the three trolls? 

11. What swords does the company take from the trolls after they turn to stone? 

12. Who is in the Lonely Mountain and has control of the gold? Explain.

13. What does the wizard Radagast tell the company?

14. Does Radagast’s hedgehog live? Do all the animals live?

15. Who chases the company after they see Radagast? 

16. Why do the Orcs on Wargs leave?

17. What are Orcs?  What are Wargs?   

18. What does Gandalf tell the Elves of Rivendell?

19. What happens after they leave Rivendell?

20. How do things go when the company is taken by the Great Goblin?

22.  Where is Bilbo when the company is fighting the Goblins?

22. What happens that causes the company to climb trees?

23. Why do some believe Smaug is dead?  Is he really dead?  Explain.

24. Name a character in the movie not in this part of the book. 

25.  If you have also read the book, tell which you like more, the movie part 1 or the book (so far)?  Why?

Students might also discuss how the book and movie are the same and different. Some students will have only read the books or only have seen the movie and can explain the missing information to each other. Really, it is "test prep" in that it is comprehension and so it if fits a class, then it would be nice to have on hand.

Note: The first movie, An Unexpected Journey, covers chapters 1 to 6, a total of just over 81 pages which comprise:

• The Unexpected Party and formation of the company.
• The Trolls.
• Rivendell.
• Crossing the Misty Mountains and the Goblins.
• Gollum.
• The Eagles.

Thank you for reading, Carolyn Wilhelm, Wise Owl Factory

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG, ABOUT GETTING REVIEWS,
AND ANOTHER FREEBIE

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!