Discussion Guide By:  Pat Bowes

Setting:  Adelphia -- suburban city

Main Characters:
   Kelly McAllister - 14-year-old protagonist, Mad Dog
   Greg McAllister - father, lawyer
   Martha McAllister - mother, artist
   Mr. Weems - “Bob,” homeless veteran
   Julie Sinclair
   Courtney - intellectual, friend
   Keith Myers - longtime friend
   Dennis Cooper - basketball player
   Grandmother
   Uncle Ralph
   Allison - 10 year old cousin
   Eliza - Martha’s aunt
   Mr. Gleicher - principal
   Miss Young - teacher
   Mr. Poland - teacher
   Miss Wisniewski - teacher
   Mrs. Martin - librarian
   Mrs. Hunter - children’s librarian
   Dave Walker - social worker
   Tim Andrews - maintenance worker
   Brett - student
   Doug - student

Style: First person

Research:  For more information about homeless veterans visit the following web site
http://www.nchv.org/qa.html

Coordinating Activity: Watch the movie, Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story.   It’s the story of a homeless Vietnam vet who goes on a hunger strike in Washington.  This is a difficult movie to find -- still looking.

Write the definition of each of these words so that you are familiar with them when they are used in the story:

p3  impudence ______________________________________________________

p3 wizened _________________________________________________________

p8 betrothed _______________________________________________________

p11 Hobbit _________________________________________________________

p17 disgorging ______________________________________________________

p22 primary source ___________________________________________________

p24 nauseating _____________________________________________________

p47 Thoreau ________________________________________________________

p62 beef stroganoff ___________________________________________________

p62 chicken tetrazzini _________________________________________________

p63 cynical _________________________________________________________

p119 squalor ________________________________________________________

p125 vagrant ________________________________________________________

p125 altruistic _______________________________________________________

p126 Post-traumatic stress disorder ______________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

p128 corporate law ___________________________________________________

p135 sluice _________________________________________________________

p136 Peace Corps ___________________________________________________

p136 Vista __________________________________________________________

p137 soup kitchen ____________________________________________________

p138 graffiti _________________________________________________________

p145 steepled _______________________________________________________

p150 arrangements __________________________________________________

p164 sarcasm ______________________________________________________

p165 eddied ________________________________________________________

p166 selkie _________________________________________________________

NOTE: DO NOT READ AHEAD UNTIL YOU HAVE ANSWERED ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS, ESPECIALLY THE LAST ONE.

1) The relationship between Kelly and her parents is somewhat strained.  Why do you
     think their relationship is this way?  What could they do to improve their
     relationship?

2) Write three adjectives to describe Kelly at the time she first tried to talk with Mr.
     Weems.  Explain why you chose those adjectives.

3) In the library, what magazine article is Courtney reading?

4) At the end of chapter 3 Kelly begins the early phases of a personal transformation.
    Why is she able to begin this process?

5) Read Shel Silverstein’s poem entitled “What’s in the Sack?” and explain why Kelly
     feels it reminds her of Mr. Weems.

6) By the end of chapter 6 Kelly’s personal transformation is complete and she now
     understands Mr. Weems and is able to help him.  Provide evidence from chapter
     six to prove or disprove this statement.

1) In chapter 6 Kelly gives clothing and food to Mr. Weems, but in chapter 7 he throws
    most of the food away.  Why do you think he did this?

2) Public libraries are paid for primarily through taxes. In chapter 7 several taxpaying
    patrons complain about Mr. Weems and they feel his odor and his bags are a
    nuisance.
    (a) Do these people have a point?
    (b) If you were in charge of the library, what  would you do about Mr. Weems?
    (c) Ask a local librarian what their policy is concerning vagrants and report your
         findings to the class.

3) Kelly is frustrated and she says to Mrs. Hunter, “It’s not fair. Some people have
    everything and other people don’t even have a place to live.  What kind of country is
    this?”
    (a) Is our country fair?
    (b) Would we be more fair if we had a Robin Hood system of government that took
          from the rich and gave to the poor?
    (c) Do you know of any countries that have tried to take land and money from the rich
         and disperse it more evenly?  If so, what countries were they and what
         happened?

4) Mr. Weems finally talks with Kelly and provides some insight into his life and his
     feelings.  Now that you know a little more about Mr. Weems, why do you think he
     still rejects Kelly’s friendship?

5) Why does Kelly’s mother tell her she shouldn’t talk about things she doesn’t know
    anything about, especially Vietnam?

6) Compare and contrast Mr. Weems and Mr. McAllister.

7) Research post-traumatic stress disorder and prepare a brief report.  Based on
     what you have read, do you believe Mr. Weems has PTSD?  Provide evidence to
     support your answer.
http://health.yahoo.com/health/Diseases_and_Conditions/Disease_Feed_Data/Post_traumatic_stress_disorder/

8) Write three adjectives to describe Kelly.

1) Kelly’s dad thinks she is going through “some kind of altruistic stage.”  What does he mean by
    that?  Do you agree with Kelly’s dad that this is a stage of life that will pass?

2) What impact does her great aunt Eliza have on Kelly?

3) When Ed Koch was Mayor of New York City in the 1980’s homelessness was a serious
    problem.  Mayor Koch had homeless people who were mentally deranged physically taken
    from the streets and placed in psychiatric hospitals where they could be fed and cared for.
    One of the reasons he did this was because of the many complaints of citizens and tourists
    about homeless people being overly aggressive in requesting money from people, as well as
    their foul odor.  Lawyers on behalf of the homeless filed actions against the Mayor saying he
    was being  inhumane and at least one lady, Joyce Brown,  was eventually set free from a
    hospital only to go back out to live on the streets where she defecated in public and  begged
    for money.   Do you think Mayor Koch was right to have people physically taken from the
    streets of New York?  Do you think the librarian was right to tell Mr.  Weems not to come to the
    library with his bags?  Defend your answer.

4) Kelly recalls some graffiti she saw the last time she and her mother went to Washington
    which read: “The American Dream is the world’s nightmare.”  What does the statement mean?
    Do you think it’s true?  Why or why not?

5) When Kelly is visiting with Mrs. Hunter, what is the last book that Mrs. Hunter puts on the
    shelf?  Good authors include details with both obvious and subliminal messages.  Why did
    Mary Downing Hahn select this particular book as the last book to be put on the shelf?  Also, is
    there a reason the author chose to have the little girl ask for a book about a little boy with a
    drum?  What book did the little girl want and what is its significance?

6) Was it ultimately Kelly’s fault that Mr. Weems had been kicked out of the library, and that he
    had been killed?

7) Write three adjectives to describe Kelly.

8) There are several names mentioned of men who died in Vietnam. Visit the Virtual Wall web
    site at http://www.thevirtualwall.org and enter the names in the search section.  You will find
    that some of the names are actually on the Wall and some are not.  List each name and state
    whether or not his name is on the Wall.  Why did the author choose to have some real names
    and some fictional names?
9) Choose one of the real veterans who died and write a little bit about him, explain what
    happened to him, and where this occurred.

10) Write a brief reaction about what you learned from reading this book and how you feel.

11) On a scale from 1 - 20, with 20 being superior, rate this book and give reasons to support
      your rating.

What’s in the sack?  What’s in the sack?
Is it some mushrooms or is it the moon?
Is it love letters or downy goose feathers?
Or maybe the world’s most enormous balloon?

What’s in the sack?  That’s all they ask me.
Could it be popcorn or marbles or books?
Is it two years’ worth of your dirty laundry,
Or the biggest ol’ meatball that’s ever been cooked?

Does anyone ask me, “Hey, when is your birthday?”
“Can you play Monopoly?”  “Do you like beans?”
“What is the capital of Yugoslavia?”
Or “Who embroidered that rose on your jeans?”

No, what’s in the sack? That’s all they care about.
Is it a rock or a rolled-up giraffe?
Is it pickles or nickles or busted bicycles?
And if we guess it, will you give us half?

Do they ask where I’ve been, or how long I’ll be stayin’,
Where I’ll be goin’, or when I’ll be back,
Or “How do?” or “What’s new?” or “Hey, why are you blue?”
No, all they keep asking is, “What’s in the sack?”
“What’s in the sack?” I’m blowin’ my stack
At the next one who asks me, “What’s in the sack?”
What?
Oh no. Not you, too!

from Where the Sidewalk Ends
Shel Silverstein
Harper Row Publishers, 1974
 

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
 

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
 

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
 

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.