Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Guide Reading Group Guide Readin 10. How do you react to Zinny’s behavior in Group Guide Reading Group Guide the shocking and powerful scene in which she Reading Group Guide Reading Gro places a pillow over Uncle Nate’s head? Reread Guide Reading Group Guide Readin p.197 as you discuss. GroupREADING Guide Reading GROUP Group GUIDE Guide 11. Sharon Creech spends a good deal of time Reading Group Guide Reading Gro describing the different portions of the Bybanks- Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Chocton trail. Discuss the interesting names of Group Guide Reading Group Guide these trails—Maiden’s Walk, Baby Toe Ridge, Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Shady Death Ridge, and Surrender Bridge. Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Consider what these names mean with reference Group Guide Reading Group Guide to Zinny’s story. Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Guide Group Guide Reading Group 12. Uncle Nate often calls Aunt Jessie his Guide Reading Group Guide Readin “Redbird.” What does the term Redbird symbolize Group Guide Reading Group Guide in the novel? Reading Group Guide Reading Gro photo by Matthew Self Matthew photo by Sharon Creech is the author of , Guide Reading Group Guide Readin CRITICAL ACCLAIM: which received the 1995 , was an ALA Group Guide Reading Group Guide Notable Children’s Book, and was listed as an NCTE Reading Group Guide Reading Gro “The journey for Zinny and readers is intriguing, Notable Trade Book, among other prestigious awards. Guide Reading Group Guide Readin delightful, and touching.” (Starred review) Her other books include and Group Guide Reading Group Guide —School Library Journal Pleasing the Ghost. Sharon Creech lives in Surrey, England, for nine months of the year. During the summer Reading Group Guide Reading Gro months she returns to Lake Chautauqua in western Guide Reading Group Guide Readin “This sturdy but sensitive tale is Creech’s New York State to spend time with her grown children. Group Guide Reading Group Guide best yet.” (Starred review) —Publishers Weekly Also from Sharon Creech: Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Guide Reading Group Guide Readin “Sharon Creech has written a striking novel, Walk Two Moons Group Guide Reading Group Guide notable for its emotional honesty.” —The Horn Book Absolutely Normal Chaos Pleasing the Ghost Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Try these other great books from HarperCollins: Group Guide Reading Group Guide Bridge to Terabithia Catherine, Called Birdy Reading Group Guide Reading Gro By Katherine Paterson By Karen Cushman Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Ella Enchanted Sarah, Plain and Tall By Gail Carson Levine By Patricia MacLachlan Group Guide Reading Group Guide The Midwife’s Apprentice Stonewords Reading Group Guide Reading Gro By Karen Cushman By Pam Conrad Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Available at your local bookstore or library Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Joanna Cotler Books Visit us on the World Wide Web at HarperTrophy http://www.harperchildrens.com Guide Group Guide Reading Group 10 East 53rd Street Guide Reading Group Guide Readin New York, NY 10022 Reading Group Guide ISBN: 0-06-449467-5 Group Guide Reading Group Guide Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Gro Group Guide Reading Group Guide Guide Reading Group Guide Readin Group Guide Reading Group Guide Group Guide Reading Group Guide GGidRdiGGid Reading Group Guide Reading Gro ABOUT THIS GUIDE: Interweaving the story with places and characters 6. Zinny gets upset when her father refers to from her Newbery Award-winning novel Walk her mission to clear the trail as “the trail thing” is a complex and exciting work Two Moons, Sharon Creech tells a beautifully (p.119). Have you ever had the experience of of fiction, that explores real issues teenagers are crafted story about a young girl discovering that someone’s underestimating or belittling a project dealing with, including death, identity, and life is a tangle of mysteries, surprises, and everyday about which you felt very strongly? How did you relationships. This guide is intended to spark occurrences—a journey that often needs unraveling feel when this happened? discussion on this thought-provoking and and that sometimes must be traveled alone. fascinating new novel from Sharon Creech. 7. Constantly being referred to as an anonymous “pumpkin,” a “tadpole,” or worst of all, the FOR DISCUSSION: “strangest and stingiest dirt-daubing doodlebug” ABOUT THIS BOOK: 1. Throughout Chasing Redbird Zinny experiences (p. 52), Zinny strikes out to clear the trail. By the Thirteen-year-old Zinny Taylor lives in Bybanks, conflicting and confusing feelings about the end of the novel, do you think Zinny has Kentucky, with too many brothers and sisters— people who are special to her—Uncle Nate, successfully set herself apart from her brothers a mess of “tadpoles” and “pumpkins” is what her Jake, even her parents. Give some examples of and sisters by creating the trail? Has her identity uncle Nate calls them. When Zinny discovers a Zinny’s confusion about these characters and changed in the eyes of her family, the public, mysterious overgrown trail that begins on her explain why she feels so conflicted. Jake? Does Zinny think she has changed herself family farm, she thinks she’s finally found a place by the end of the story? How can you tell? of her own, a place she can go, away from her 2. How does the natural world of the woods 8. Zinny often talks about missing her friend Sal, family, to hear herself think. But what Zinny play a part in Zinny’s story? Do the other who is the main character in Walk Two Moons. comes to realize is that the mysteries of the trail members of Zinny’s family share her enthusiasm For those who have read Walk Two Moons: How are intertwined with her own unanswered for nature? is Zinny’s mission to clear the trail similar to Sal’s questions and family secrets, and that the trail— 3. Throughout the novel Zinny continually race to retrace her mother’s steps? Compare and her passion to uncover it—is leading her on explains her life as a “bowl of spaghetti” (p.1). how these two main characters deal with the a journey home. Discuss this metaphor and how it works within losses in their lives. the story. 9. Both Zinny’s cousin Rose and Aunt Jessie fall 4. Why do you think Jake steals the dog, the to untimely deaths, and throughout the novel ring, and the car? Is it all because he’s “sweet Zinny feels much guilt about the loss. Consider on” (p.100) Zinny, or are there other reasons this quote from Zinny: “Why did people get old? for his stealing? From the clues that Sharon Why did people get sick? Why couldn’t the hand Creech gives you about Jake’s life, what kind of of God fix whooping cough? Why couldn’t it relationship do you think Jake has with his parents? snatch a woman back from a drawer? Why Does he share the kind of closeness Zinny has couldn’t it fix Uncle Nate? I couldn’t stand it. I with her parents? wanted answers to my questions, and I wanted 5. There are many supernatural events in them immediately” (p.179). How does this Chasing Redbird. Does the ghost of Aunt Jessie quote help explain Zinny’s feelings about her actually wander through the woods? What kinds aunt’s and cousin’s deaths? of emotions does Zinny feel every time she senses Aunt Jessie’s ghost? g Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group