A Reading Resource Guide for

One Book for Greater Hartford

Breath, Eyes, Memory

By Edwidge Danticat

CONNECTICUT

CENTER FOR THE BOOK

at the Hartford Public Library

For more information, contact:

Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library Public Relations Brenda Miller 500 Main Street Hartford, CT 06103-3075 Telephone (860) 695-6360 Fax (860) 722-6900 e-mail: bmiller@hartfordpl.lib.ct.us

One Book for Greater Hartford

Welcome to our first community-wide book discussion, One Book for Greater Hartford. The Connecticut Center for the Book at the Hartford Public Library, recipient of the 2002 Boorstin Award, is devoted to celebrating the written word and the writers and readers that engender and sustain our literary heritage.

In keeping with our mission, we consider the One Book for Greater Hartford project an exciting opportunity to further engage the regional community in a shared experience, the reading of one book. Through the Hartford Public Library's partnership with the Greater Hartford Literacy Council and the Greater Hartford Arts Council, a forum for discussions and special events has been developed to enrich our community dialogue.

We hope that our Reading Resource Guide, prepared for the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat, will serve as a useful toot to enhance your personal involvement in this community program and invite you, the reader, to turn the page...

Louise Blalock

Chief Librarian, Hartford Public Library

About the Author............................................................ 3

Author's Notes …………………………………………4

What is fiction? ………………………………………...8

What is a memoir?……………………………………. .9

A Few Thoughts on Memoirs by Lary Bloom................. 10

Discussion Questions .....................................................14

Bibliography ..................................................................16

Suggestions for Further Reading .....................................17

Filmography 18

Family/Intergenerational Book Discussion Series ............21

Extending and Enriching Your Experience …………..30

Book Club How To's ………………………………….31

Reading Critically …………………………………….33

Leading the Discussion ……………………………….35

Suggestions for Participants …………………………..36

Sample Questions …………………………………… 37

In Breath, Eyes Memo Edwidge Danticat has created an unforgettable story about mothers and daughters, exile and return, honor and disgrace. The novel speaks in a voice both poetic and passionate of four generations of Haitian women who must overcome their powerlessness.

Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti in 1969, She came to the United States when she was twelve years old and published her first writings in English two years later. At the age of 26, she was nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in American literature, the 1995 National Book Award. She holds a degree in French literature from Barnard College and a MFA from Brown University. Her short stories have appeared in 25 periodicals. She has won a 1995 Pushcart Short Story Prize as well as fiction awards from The Caribbean Writer, Seventeen and Essence magazine. The author lives in Brooklyn, NY

I am extremely honored that my first novel, Breath, Eyes Memory has been chosen for the One Book for Greater Hartford program. When I first began writing this book at eighteen years old, I had no idea what an extraordinary journey both the characters and myself were embarking on. All I knew was that I had a powerful urge to tell this story, which took five years to unravel itself. Though it will take a lot less time for you to meet and become familiar with these characters, I hope that they will grow as close to your heart as they are to mine.

I began writing Breath. Eyes Memo after finishing an assignment for a newspaper called New Youth Connections, which was written entirely by New York City high school students. The assignment called for me to write a personal essay describing my childhood in Haiti and my eight-year separation from my parents, who had migrated from Haiti when I was four to seek a better life in the United States, leaving me in the care of an aunt and uncle in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. For the most part, the New Youth Connections article detailed vivid childhood memories of Haiti, which involved, among other things, marathon story telling sessions conducted by the elders in my family during early evening curfews and power failures. (Since we couldn't go out and had no electricity to read, study or watch TV with, I recounted, the youngsters in the family would sit around a candle or a small lamp and listen to folktales, riddles and stories from our elders.) My uncle's mother-in-law, Granma Melina, told the best stories of anyone I knew. She was a hundred plus year old country woman who felt displaced in the city and felt she had nothing left but her patched-up quilts, and her stories. I used to share a room with Granma Melina, and would get bonus stories each night before she fell asleep. I was in the room with Granma Melina when she died. She died with her eyes wide open and I was the one who closed them. I still

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miss the countless stories she told. However, 1 accepted her death very easily because even as a child I knew that somehow part of her would always remain alive in those stories. In fact it was Granme Melina who first told me the story of the little girl and the lark, which the grandmother in the book tells the children in her yard. In creating that character, I was able to bring Granme Melina back to life in a way I knew she would have liked.

Once I finished writing my essay for New Youth Connections, which I have pretty much reproduced from memory here, I felt as though I didn't want to abandon the memories that it had stiffed in me. Thus I began writing a fictional story which would borrow from my life and still allow me the freedom to invent other incidents. Writing Breath, Eyes. Memory from my bedroom in my parents' apartment in Brooklyn, became a way for me to return to Haiti in my mind, not only the real Haiti, but a Haiti that had blossomed in my imagination after many years of living in the United States: a rural matriarchal Haiti, where daffodils could grow freely and children could make bonfires with dry leaves and neighbors could have a konbit potluck dinner once a week. I didn't know if that Haiti, the Haiti that Granme Melina had described to me in such detail when I was a little girl, still existed, but I still wanted to return there in the company of the novel's characters. From wherever her spirit is now, Granme Melina acted as our guide and through this story I was able to visit with her and all those people who I had left behind in Haiti and those who in death had left me over and over again.

I am not sure at what point the virginity "test" made its way into the story. (Writers often claim that our characters lead us where they want us to go and in this case it was certainly true.) I do remember Granme Melina talking about how young girls from her village had their virginity closely monitored. 1 also knew many young women from different cultures who

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were watched closely by family members so they could make a "good" marriage. Later, I would read novelist/anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston's Of Mules and Men in which she describes an incident in rural Haiti where a young woman was sent home to her parents the morning after her wedding night because she was not a virgin. In no way did I mean to state or imply that "testing" was a widespread practice in Haiti. (It is not.) I only intended to show that this was one of the many ways that the women in this particular family, the Caco family, try to dominate their daughters.

When Breath, Eyes, Memory first came out, I was reprimanded by many members of the Haitian community who accused me of writing a false and unflattering fiction about Haitian women in order to sensationalize my story. The truth is that in my mind this was only a small fragment of a much larger tale, but for others it became their sole consideration in judging the book. In 1999, I wrote an epilogue to the Vintage paperback edition of the book, which explains some of this, and feel that I must emphasize it here again. No, not all Haitian mothers test their daughters, but the mothers in this story do and this is only part of the many layers of their relationship.

Since this book was published in 1994, 1 have written four more books and edited two more, however, this remains my most special "baby" and my most debated one too. Sometimes, when discussing the book, people will substitute Sophie's name for mine or mine for Sophie's. The question I get asked most often about this book, besides the one about testing (Q: Is "testing" a general Haitian practice? A: See above) is how much of the book is autobiographical. As the British novelist Pat Barker once said, the starting point of any piece of writing is "inevitably always something in your life just as the source of every single character you create has to be yourself"

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I was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when I was twelve to be reunited with my mother and father who had left Haiti eight years before I did. The main character of Breath, Eyes Memory, Sophie Caco, is born in Haiti as a result of a rape and comes to the United States to be reunited with her mother when she is twelve. Because of the obvious similarities between Sophie's and my childhood, many readers assume that I too was born as a result of a rape. I was not. However, there are many things that Sophie Caco and I share. In writing Breath, Eyes Memory, I did reconstruct the sadness and desolation I experienced as a child separated from my parents. While describing Sophie's arrival in the United States, I relived my own wonder at seeing a new country for the first time and the discomfort of such an eagerly awaited, yet nevertheless uncomfortable, reunion with ones long absent parent. Perhaps what I did was write an emotional autobiography, but not a factual one.

What I would like the reader to come away with after reading this book (This is another question that is often posed to me, "What would you like the reader to come away with after reading this book?" ) is the feeling that Haiti is a socially, culturally and politically complex place. To paraphrase the younger woman (me) who wrote the high school essay that eventually became this book, my writing life thus far has been centered on the hope that the extraordinary story tellers I grew up with, particularly Granme Melina, will choose to tell their story through my voice. For those of us who have a voice must speak to the present and to the past, honoring everything we are, have been, and will be, through our breath, our eyes, our memory.

What is fiction?

Imaginative, inventive prose narrative in the form of fable, fairy tale, fantasy, myth, legend, folklore, short story, vignette, novella, or novel. The elements of fiction include plot, character, point of view, tone, setting, theme, and a mood. Carey, Gary and Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. A Multicultural Dictionary of Literary Terms. (McFarland & Co., 1999).

I write fiction and Tin told it's autobiography. I write autobiography and I'm told it's fiction. Philip Roth.

Mark Twain.

Literature is not a mere juggling of words; what matters is what is left unsaid, or what may be read between the lines. Jorge Luis Borges.

E. A Forster.

What is a memoir?

A memoir is ...

A form of autobiographical writing dealing with the recollections of prominent people or people who have been a part of or have witnessed significant events. Memoirs differ from autobiography proper in that they are usually concerned with personalities and actions other than those of the writer himself, whereas the autobiography lays a heavier stress on the inner and private life of its subject. (Thrall, William Flint and Hibbard, Addison, rev. and enlarged by G. Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature, Oddysey Press, 1960) New York.

I write no memoirs. I'm a gentleman. I cannot bring myself to write nastily about persons whose hospitality I have enjoyed. John Pentland Mahaffy.

Memoirs are true and useful Stars, whilst studies histories are those stars joined in constellations, according to the fancy of the poet. Samuel Pepys.

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you do - well that's Memoirs. Will Rogers

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What value does the "average" life have as literature? It is a question I have heard, and answered, scores of times over the years. Over more than three decades as a Sunday magazine editor (including 20 years as founding editor of Northeast at the Hartford Courant), I encouraged people to write about their lives; memoir became a distinctive, and popular, feature of these publications. To me as editor, it was the kind of writing that touched people most "ordinary" lives, because there is no such thing as an ordinary life. Every life is worth documenting. Every life faces obstacle. Every life has drama and, potentially, the ability to offer insight.

Not every writer or potential writer, of course, has worldclass talent. But people have much greater capacity to tell the stories of their lives than they might think. Some of these stories may have market value. And even those that never get published, or are not intended for publication, have the capacity to prove rewarding, perhaps even healing. In short, memoir writing is useful for anyone who has the instinct to do it. I've put down here ten rules for the potential writer of memoir.

1. Believe That You Have A Story To Tell. Because you do. It may not be the story that others say you have, however. It is the story in your heart Because no one else on earth has that story to tell. Yes, others may have gone through similar experiences. But no one walked in your shoes, thought what you thought, saw what you saw, did what you did, or didn't do what you didn't do.

2. Leave Dishonesty In The Other Room. As a reader, you often decide to stop reading. You do this sometimes because the author lacks craft. You do this other times because you have the feeling, though you might not express that way, that you're not getting the straight story, and that somehow the author has relinquished, or never demonstrated, his or her authority. In short, there is no writing without honesty. Scary, I know. But put it on the page. No one else has to see it, until you're ready.

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4. Learn To Tell A Story. This is the rub, isn't it? Memoir writing and fiction are very similar in this regard. That is, techniques of fiction are often used in the best memoir. For example, there is the question of structure. Start at the beginning, end at the end. The best memoir writing and the best fiction writing are indistinguishable in terms of form. They both use scene setting, an eye for detail, character development, and, climax. Therefore:

S. As A Writer, Read. Biographies, historical nonfiction, novels, plays, poems - everything. You become part of the community of language. You notice, and dissect, good writing. You don't copy it. But you are impressed by it, and influenced by it, and inspired by it. There is no way to "dabble" in writing. You must immerse yourself. It must become your life as a memoir writer. Everything you read, including the backs of cereal boxes, will be useful to you.

6. Use Your Imagination. Memoir writing is not simply presenting the facts. Facts do not make writing. Facts are a basis. You are not the only character in your memoir. What is going on inside the heads of the others? You can't know that, can you? You can only remember (possibly) what they said to you. You can't know what they thought? Do you have the license to suggest what they thought? Of course you do.

8. When In Doubt Leave It Out. Great poets, such as Yusef Komunyakaa, stress the need for giving credit to the reader. While you do have the responsibility of being honest, you don't have the requirement of telling everything. The reader has imagination, too.

Yourself. Don't worry about the embarrassing things in it before then, or what the effect will be. Take the memoir and read it aloud to yourself. Read it for rhythm. For sense.

10. Experience The Joy of Rewrite. When it's done, it's not done. Of course you must let it go at some point. But not before you've been over every word, every sentence, every paragraph. Not before you've excised unnecessary words, or examined the text for the fraud you've committed against it. Say to yourself when you're ready, and as you pound your fist on the table, "Yes. This is exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it."

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Book Resource List:

Lary Bloom, The Writer Within.

Nancy Slonim Aronie, Writing From The Heart.

Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory. Frank McCourt, Angela 's Ashes.

David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day.

William Zinsser, On Writing Well.

David Hays and Daniel Hays, My Old Man And The Sea.

Mark Twain, Roughing It. Isaac Bashevis Singer, Love and Exile.

Philip Levine, The Mercy. Billy Collins, Questions About Angels.

1. Breath, Eyes, Memory tells the story of relationships among several generations of women. Danticat dedicates this novel to the Haitian women who are "brave as stars at dawn." What does this statement say about the strength or powerlessness of Haitian women?

2. There are two significant male characters in the novel, Joseph and Marc. How does Sophie express her ambivalent feelings about both of them? Would you consider this to be a woman's book?

3. Edwidge Danticat has said that in Haiti, "Everything is a story. Everything is a metaphor or a proverb." How do some of the proverbs and tales that Sophie's grandmother tells her relate to the events and themes of the novel?

4. Sophie and her mother's relationship was shaped by Martine's rape by an unknown man, possibly a Macoute. Do they ever succeed in "exorcising" the evil events of the past?

6. Some have criticized the novel for its representation of Haitian culture and customs. What is the author's obligation to the image (reputation) of her culture?

7. Readers have commented on the color imagery used in the book. As girl, Martine's favorite color was daffodil yellow; in middle age she is obsessed with the color red. What significance and associations do these colors have for her?

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8. Atie learning to read and write seems to correspond to her growing sense of self Why does she so resolutely stick to her idea of staying with her mother and doing her "duty?"

9. Atie says to Sophie, "Your mother and 1, when we were children we had no control over anything. Not even this body" (p. 20). How does this knowledge shape Sophie's life? In what ways does Sophie take control of her own life as her mother and aunt never were able to?

10. Sophie's grandmother's attitude toward death and the dead depict the Haitian cultural perspective. How do these compare with American attitudes about death?

11. The Haitian goddess Erzulie is both a goddess of love and the Virgin Mary. What does this tell you about the Haitian culture and its ideas of love and religion? How does this differ from American and European culture?

12. Sophie feels that Haitians in America have a bad image as "boat people." How have her efforts to assimilate, to become "American," exacerbated her problems?

13. Which of Sophie's actions represent bids for freedom and autonomy? What does she accomplish when, at the end of the novel, she beats the stalks of sugar cane? What does the final cry of "Ou libere" (p. 233) mean to Sophie? To Atie?

14. Do you feel that Martine in some manner "liberated" herself by committing suicide? Or was her act one of submission? Is Martine's suicide the result of trauma or a psychotic episode?

15. Some of the facts in this book parallel the author's life. How would you have responded if it had been written as a memoir?

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After the Dance: a Walk through Carnival in Jacmel (Aug. 2002)

Behind the Mountains: (the Diary of Celiane Esperance). (Aug. 2002)

Butterfly's way : Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora [sic] in the United States / edited by Edwidge Danticat. 2001.

Farming of bones.

Krik? Krak!

Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 15. Gale, 1997. Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol 94, 139. Gale, 1996, 200 1. Short Stories for Students, vol. 1. Gale, 1997.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol 194, 139. Gale, 1996, 2001.

Short Stories for Students, vol. 1. Gale, 1997.

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Suggestions for Further Reading

Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

Charles Arthur, Haiti: a Guide to the People, Politics and Culture.

Beverly Bell, Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance.

Patricia Bell-Scott, ed., Double Stitch: Black Women Write About Mothers and Daughters.

Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape.

Harold Courlander, The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People.

Leslie Desmangles, Faces of the Gods.

Christina Garcia, The Aguero Sisters.

Carolyn G. Heilbrun, Writing a Woman's Life.

Jamaica Kincaid, At the Bottom of the River, Lucy.

Paule Marshall, Daughters.

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon.

Gloria Naylor, Mama Day.

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Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, All Men Are Mad.

Alice Walker, The Color Purple, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens, Meridian, Warrior Marks.

5. The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. (1951) This classic film explores the fascinating world of Haitian voodoo and possession. USA. Dir. by Maya Deren. Available in VHS format from Mystic Fire Video.

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6. Haiti: A Painted History. (1997) The turbulent 500-year political history of Haiti is portrayed in a travelling exhibition of paintings by Haitian artists. USA. Dir. by Jean- Marie Drot. Available in VHS format from Home Vision Entertainment.

7. Haiti: Dreams of Democracy. (1988) A colorful documentary that uses popular music and songs to capture the hopeful atmosphere of Haiti around the time of the first anniversary of Duvalier's overthrow. Great Britain. Din by Jonathan Demme. Available in VHS format from Cinema Guild.

8. Haiti: Killing the Dream. (1992) This documentary tells the story of Haiti's struggle for independence up to the ousting and exile of former president Aristide. USA. Din by Katharine Kean and Rudi Stem. Available in VHS format from Crowing Rooster Productions.

9. Haitian Pilgrimage. (1992) Program follows a Haitian-American Massachusetts family on a three-week pilgrimage to Haiti. USA. Din by Robin Lloyd. Available in VHS format from Green Valley Films.

10. Krik? Krak! Tales of a Nightmare. (1988) This innovative film blends documentary and fiction to delve into Haiti's history of struggle. USA. Din by Vanyoska Gert and Jac Avila. Available in l6mm and VHS formats from Mountain Top Films.

11. LaFanmi Selavi. (2000) A documentary filmed at Port-Au Princes LaFanmi Selavi center for homeless and abandoned children. Features interviews with founder Jean-Bertrand Aristide. USA. Lee Flynn. Available in VHS format from Bridge Films.

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12. Lumumba. (2000) Directed by Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck, this docudrama tells the story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of African hero and Congo leader, Patrice Lumumba. France. Dir. by Raoul Peck. Available in VHS format from Zeitgeist films.

13. Rezistans. (1997) Award-winning documentary tracking the political events and human tragedy surrounding Haiti's 1991 coup d'etat and its bloody aftermath. Haiti. Dir. by Katharine Kean. Available in VHS format from Crowing Rooster Productions.

14. Talk and More Talk. (1991) Part 6 of the 13-part documentary series, "Caribbean Eye." This installment focuses on the Caribbean region's oral culture. Trinidad and Tobago. Available in VHS format from Banyan Television Ltd.

15. A Work-in-Progress: Human Rights in Haiti. (1999) A film which documents the Haitian people's struggle for their rights, featuring a look at the work being done by United Nations human rights observers. Dir. by Isabelle Abric and Simone Guidi diBagno. Available in VHS format from Filmakers Library.

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PZ 8.1.W84 BAN CHILD The Banza, by Diane Wolkstein. A Haitian story that brings the power of music and the power of friendship together in the playing of the banza, an African instrument.

GR 76.M252 2000 CHILD The Barefoot Book of Tropical Tales, retold by Raouf Mama. This brightly illustrated collection includes the Haitian tale, "How the Goat Moved from the Jungle to the Village."

F 1915.2.T87 1999 CHILD Haiti: Land of Inequali by Mary C. Turck. A study of the current Haitian political and economic situation, for older children and young adults. Chapters from this work could be read in conjunction with newspaper and magazine articles about contemporary Haitian life, drawn from HPL's databases.

PZ 8.1. W84 MAG CHILD The Magic Orange Tree and Other Haitian Folktales, retold by Diane Wolkstein. A classic compilation of short tales, as recorded in Haiti in the 1970s by storyteller Wolkstein. Wolkstein also provides a description before each tale of the teller, the setting in which it was told, and the audience's response. Naif drawings by Eisa Henriquez illustrate each selection.

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Picture Book CHILD Painted Dreams by Karen Lynn Williams. A young Haitian girl, Ti Marie, finds a way to practice her art and help her family. A note on the folk art of Haiti, and a brief glossary of the Creole words used, make this work especially useful, but children will remember it best by Catherine Stock's graceful illustrations.

Fiction CHILD Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti, by Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes. A lyrical, but simple and unromanticized, description of family life in Haiti 70 years ago.

Picture Book CHILD Running the Road to ABC, by Denize Lauture. A poetic description of Haitian children running to their school, enriched by Reynold Ruffins' vibrant folk illustrations.

Picture Book CHILD Tap-Tap, by Karen Lynn Williams. A young girl's trip to the market ends with her first ride on a tap-tap, or brightly-painted Haitian bus.

GR 121 H3 L68 1999 CHILD When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! by Liliane Nerette Louis. Fred Hay's brief but scholarly introduction to this work describes the island's geography, history, and social organization, as well as the connection of these to the traditional context and content of the tales. Haitian master storyteller (or met kont) Louis provides 29 tales, drawn from her own family's oral tradition, and organized by the themes they express. An appendix of Haitian recipes, and a Creole-English glossary, are also included.

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As the descriptions in The Magic Orange Tree make clear, Haitian storytelling is the performance of an actor before an audience. Open a discussion session focused on storytelling by reading any one of these descriptions, or Liliane Nerette Louis' discussion of her art on pages 3 to 6 in When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! Introduce the idea that personal or family stories are very much part of the storytelling tradition, or (in other words) that "On my mother's first trip to New York City" is as valid a start to a story as "Once upon a time..." Encourage discussion of told stories that adults remember from their childhood, or that children know from their current experience. How or where did the story start? Who told it, and how did he or she make it memorable? Have the people who heard it passed it on to others?

Following a break for tropical fruit punch and coconut cookies (both purchased), split the group into three smaller groups. Give each group a short story from When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! or The Magic Orange Tree "Ay, Ay, Ay," from the former work, and "The Two Donkeys" and "Bouki Dances the Kokioko," found in the latter, would be good choices. Ask that one member of the group read the story, while at least one other member acts it out, recites the refrain, or otherwise adds interest to the narrative. Elaborations and additions to the original are welcome! Give each group about 20 minutes to practice, and then ask that they present their work to the group. Be sure to start each performance with the reader shouting "Kric!" and the audience responding "Krac!," in the Haitian tradition.

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Begin by reading Painted Dreams aloud. Encourage a discussion of the dream Ti Marie has, and the way in which she realizes it. What are the aspirations of the children and adults present? What resources do they need to accomplish these? Lead the discussion back to Ti Marie's dream, and to the importance of folk art in Haitian culture. Use adult resources to illustrate the metal work, wood sculpture, and painting of that culture. Finish with a reading from Chapter IX of Popo and Fifina, in which Popo, as an apprentice carpenter, learns that a Haitian woman will not buy even a very humble wooden object, such as a tray, unless it is carved in a unique design.

Following a break for sliced mangos and oranges, such as Ti Marie would have enjoyed at the market, look at the illustrations in Painted Dreams Running the Road to ABC, and the picture book My Little Island, written and illustrated by Franee Lessac. (The latter portrays a visit to the Caribbean island of Montserrat, rather than Haiti, but the style of illustration is similar to that found in the first two works.) Then, enlist the help of participants in setting up for a painting activity, by:

• covering an area of floor, or a large table space, with newspapers;
• setting out paper plate palettes, with generous amounts of red, yellow, blue, white, and black tempra paint dotted about the surface;

• setting out a cup of water, set of brushes, and a chunk of sponge for each participant;
• setting out a large sheet of heavy paper, such as poster board or watercolor for each participant;
  and,
• giving each participant a large black crayon.

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Encourage participants to think of simple, colorful scenes they would like to paint. A fish in the sea, a bird in a tree or sky, a pile of fruit, a snake in the grass, or a flower garden are good choices. A volcanic eruption, such as that shown in My Little Island, may attract some interest. Each member then outlines the scene with black crayon on the paper. (The wax of the crayon will help hold the paint inside the shapes drawn, so encourage participants to be generous in using it.) Everyone then paints his or her drawing. Backgrounds can be easily filled in using the chunk of sponge, dipped in a very small amount of paint, and touched lightly over the area in a powdering motion. Finish by laying the completed paintings in a row, and admiring the works as though they were in a gallery.

Ill. The Life of a Child

Begin this discussion by reading a section of Chapter VIII from Popo and Fifina, in which the children's fascination with a kite is described, and Running the Road to ABC. Then, read Tap-Tap by passing the book around the table, so that each person who can read the text takes a turn at doing so. (If a number of younger children are present, at this point pass out simple car or truck shapes cut from white paper, and crayons. The younger children can color these in emulation of the brightly-painted Tap-Taps while the discussion continues.) Encourage participants to remember and state the activities in which children engage in the works read. Write the activities on a pad of easel paper, leaving plenty of space between them. Go back over the list when it is finished, and encourage the children to say whether or not that is something that they do. If not, what do they do that accomplishes a similar purpose? Encourage the adults to comment on the list from the perspective of their own childhoods. For example, the primary activity of Sasifi in Tap--Tap is to help her mother sell oranges at

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the market. How do the children present at the discussion help their families financially? What roles did the adults present play, as children, in the economic lives of their families?

The faint of heart may wish to break for a purchased snack at this point - possibly sugar cane, if available. Those with a stronger will may wish to create a sweet dish popular with Haitian children and adults, beyen.

Ingredients:

6 very ripe bananas

4 tbsps flour

I tsp cinnamon powder

I tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

Oil for cooking

Powdered sugar for topping

Directions: 1. Mash bananas, flour, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking soda together in a medium size bowl. 2. Heat oil in an electric skillet. 3. Place small spoonfuls of batter in very hot oil and fry until golden brown. Drain fritters on paper towels while remainder are cooking. 4. Sprinkle sugar on warm fritters and serve.

(Recipe adapted from http://www.islandflave.com/recipes//

beyen.shtml)

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If a purchased snack is served, finish the evening by playing the traditional Haitian game of "Mother Frog and Her Twelve Children," described on page 94 of When Night Falls, Kric! Krac!

IV. Talking Eggs

Begin this discussion by reading The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South , retold by Robert D. San Souci, and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (PZ 8. 1.S227 Tal CHILD). Explain that this compelling folktale is one of those which, like Cinderella, appears in slightly different forms around the world. (A note in The Magic -OranU Tree states that 106 variants have been collected.) Then, read the Haitian version, found as "The Lost Silver Spoon" in When Night Falls, Kric! Krac!, or as "Mother of the Waters" in The Ma - ic Orange Tree Encourage a comparison of the American version, which is African American in origin, and whichever of the Haitian versions is read. Which version is more appealing to the listeners? Which is stronger, or more memorable? What is the point of each version? Finally, encourage the participants to speculate as to why this tale is told by so many different people.

Following a break for iced coffee and molasses cookies, which celebrates two great products of Haiti, make stick puppets of the jeweled and plain eggs from The Talking Eggs. Cut rounded ovals from heavy paper (such as oak tag or manila file folders). Give two ovals, two craft sticks, a spoonful of multicolored sequins, glue and fine line markers to each participant. Encourage him or her to make a plain egg, with a pleasant face, and a jeweled egg, with lots of sequins but a nasty face, and to glue each to a craft stick. Briefly retell the story, with participants lifting the plain or jeweled eggs and saying "Take me!" or "Don't take me!" as appropriate.

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Finish the evening by asking if the participants think they could tell this story to another person, even with such brief knowledge of it. If at least a few answer, "Yes," reflect again on the strength of this story.

A major element in Haitian folktales and folklore is the return of the dead to life, or something resembling life, and the consequences of that action for the person causing it, and for those around him or her. Children in the upper elementary grades are often intrigued by such creepy stories. If the children in the discussion group are of such an age, it would be advisable to discuss with everyone, at an earlier meeting, if they think it is appropriate to include a session on so-called zombie stories. If the consensus is to do so, open with The Faithful Friend, a Martinque version of the Grimm's "Faithful John," retold by Robert San Souci, and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Turn the lights low, and follow this with any of the seven short stories found in the "Unpleasant Encounters: Ghosts, Zonbi, and the Tonton Mahout," section of When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! You may find that the audience asks for another. Encourage a discussion of how these readings make us feel. Ask if anyone has another short, scary story to share. Conclude with a statement of how powerfully folktales can both express and lay hold of the human imagination - a statement no one will doubt, after hearing some Haitian ghost stories.

Serve Haitian peanut cake (recipe on next page) and pineapple juice. If this is your last meeting, distribute certificates to all participants, and encourage them to seek out more folktales at the Hartford Public Library.

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Ingredients:

1 2/3 c flour

4 tbsps butter, softened

4 tbsps sugar

1/2 c roasted unsalted peanuts

2 whole eggs

I beaten egg yolk

Sugar for topping

Directions: 1. Mix flour, butter, 4 tbsps sugar, peanuts, and eggs together in a bowl. 2. Knead well, roll out, fold and roll out again, repeat last action several times, and finish by arranging rolled-out dough in a metal (not glass or ceramic) pie plate. 3. Brush with beaten egg yolk. 4. Bake cake in a medium or 350 degree oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan. 5. Sprinkle heavily with additional sugar, and put under a hot broiler for a few seconds.

If you wish to make a larger amount, make additional cakes. Do not multiply this recipe and cook in a larger pan.

(Recipe adapted from http://www.bhm.org/bestmade/

dessertsl.htm)

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1. Start or join a memoir writing workshop.

2. Attend an Emerging Voices poetry reading of new immigrants to the Greater Hartford area at the Hartford Public Library.

3. Hold a community potluck, enjoy a feast of food, music, dance and laughter.

4. "Read Aloud, Read Along" - share the book with friends and neighbors, volunteer to read the book in a nursing home or hospital. Read to those visually impaired.

5. Create craft and storytelling opportunities for children on the topic of books and folklore from Caribbean countries.

6. Pour out a literary tea at your local library, host a tea party with ginger tea or hold a Caribbean coffeehouse featuring the works of Caribbean authors.

7. Create your own artistic representation of this novel concentrating on what you consider important images from this book.

8. Attend or host a mini-film festival on the themes of cultural identity. (See the section on Filmography in this booklet, bear in mind Public Performance Rights.)

9. Visit galleries displaying Caribbean art.

10. Start an e-mail book club for Breath. Eyes, Memory.

11. Create a poster for a movie based on this book and include pictures of today's actors you might cast in the main roles.

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Careful reading, active participation in selecting and discussing books, and having fun.

Only fiction? Prize winners? Classics? Anything and everything? Does the book have to be available in paperback?

How long should the meetings be? (We find that the best discussions last between 45 and 90 minutes.) Will you meet at a library? Coffee shop? Private homes? Do reminder messages need to be sent out by mail or phone?

Will you have a leader? Will the same person be in charge for each meeting or will you rotate leaders? Some groups bring in an outside "expert" (who may need to be paid). Do you want the leader to give a brief biography of the author and a selection of reviews of the book under discussion?

Choosing what books to read is one of the hardest, most enjoyable, frustrating, and important activities the group will undertake. Members should be prepared to compromise and to read outside their regular areas of interest. (Some people will drop out if the books 'chosen are not what they want to read, this is a normal occurrence.) Go with the majority opinion, but remind people that there can be a big difference between "a good read" and "a good book for a discussion." (See next section.) Choose books well in advance (at least three months). People need to know what's coming up so they can read ahead. In addition, you don't want to have to spend time at each meeting deciding what to read next.

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People often ask what qualities make a book a good candidate for book discussion. Probably the most important criteria are that the book be well written, have an interesting plot and three-dimensional characters. Good book-discussion books present the author's view of an important truth and sometimes send a message to the reader. A good book-discussion book often stays in the reader's mind long after the book is finished and the discussion is over. These books can be read more than once, and each time the reader learns something new.

During a book discussion, what you're really talking about is everything that the author hasn't said-all those white spaces on the printed page. For this reason, books that are plot driven (most mysteries, westerns, romances, and science fiction/fantasy) don't lend themselves to book discussions. In genre novels and some mainstream fiction, the author spells out everything for the reader, so that there is little to say except, "Gee. I never knew that" or "Isn't that interesting." Librarians, booksellers, and friends can often supply you with suggestions of good books to discuss.

The very best books are those that insinuate themselves into your experience. They reveal an important truth or provide a profound sense of kinship between reader and writer. Searching for, identifying, and discussing these truths deepen the reader's appreciation of the book.

Asking questions, reading carefully, imagining yourself in the story, analyzing style and structure, and searching for personal meaning in a work of literature all enhance the work's value and the discussion potential for your group.

Reading for a book discussion - whether you are the leader or simply a participant - differs somewhat from reading purely for pleasure. As you read a book in preparation for a discussion, ask questions of yourself and mark down pages you might want to refer back to. Make notes like, "Is this significant?" or "Why does the author include this?" Making notes as you go slows down your reading but saves you the time of searching out important passages later.

Obviously, asking questions of yourself as you read means you don't know the answer yet, and sometimes you never will discover the answers. Don't be afraid to ask hard questions because often the author is presenting difficult issues for that very purpose. Look for questions that may lead to in-depth conversations with your group and make the book more meaningful.

As with any skill, critical reading improves with practice. Remember that a good author uses every word in a text deliberately. Try to be aware of what the author is revealing about himself and what he wants you to learn about life from his perspective.

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Try to analyze the important themes of a book and to consider what premise the author started with. Imagine an author mulling over the beginnings of the story, asking herself, "what if.. questions.

When you meet the characters in the book, place yourself at the scene. Think of them as you do the people around you. Judge them. Think about their faults and their motives. What would it be like to interact with them? Are the tone and style of their dialogue authentic? Read portions aloud to get to know the voices of the characters.

Sometimes an author uses the structure of the book to illustrate an important concept or to create a mood. Notice how the author structured the book. Are chapters prefaced by quotes? If so, how do they apply to the content of the chapters? How many narrators tell the story? Who are they? How does the sequence of events unfold to create the mood of the story? Is it written in flashbacks? Does the order the author chose make sense to you?

Compare the book to others by the same author or to books by other authors that have a similar theme or style. Often, themes run through an author's works that are more fully realized by comparison. Comparing one author's work with another's can help you solidify your opinions, as well as define for you qualities you may otherwise miss.

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Research the author using resources such as Current Biography, Contemporary Authors, and Something About the Author. The Dictionary of Literary Biography gives biographical and critical material. These resources are probably available at your local library. The Internet is often another good source for reviews of the book and biographical information about the author.

1. Come prepared with 10 to 15 open-ended questions. Remember, questions that can be answered yes or no tend to cut off discussion quickly.

2. Questions should be used to guide the discussion and keep it on track, but be ready to let the discussion flow naturally. You'll often find that the questions you've prepared will come up naturally as part of the discussion.

3. Remind participants that there are not necessarily any right answers to the questions posed.

4. Don't be afraid to criticize a book, but try to get the group to go beyond the "I just didn't like it" statement. What was it about the book that made it unappealing? The style? The pacing? The characters? Has the author written other books that were better? Did it remind you of another book that you liked or disliked?

5. Try to keep a balance between personal revelations and reactions and a response to the book itself. Of course, every reader responds to a book in ways that are intimately tied to his or her background, upbringing, experiences, and view of the world. A book about a senseless murder will naturally strike some sort of chord in a reader whose mother was killed. That's interesting, but what's more interesting is how the author chose to present the murder; or the author's attitude toward the murderer and victim.

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A good discussion depends in large part on the skills we develop as participants. Here are some suggestions:

1. SPEAK UP! Group discussion is like a conversation; everyone takes part in it. Each speaker responds to what the person before him said. Nobody prepares speeches; there should be a spontaneous exchange of ideas and opinions. The discussion is your chance to say what you think.

2. LISTEN thoughtfully to others! Try to understand the other person's point of view. Don't accept ideas that don't have a sound basis. Remember, there are several points of view possible on every question.

3. BE BRIEF! Share the discussion with others. Speak for only a few minutes at a time. Make your point in as a few words as possible. Be ready to let someone else speak. A good discussion keeps everyone in the conversation.

4. SHARE YOUR VIEWPOINT AND EXPERIENCE! Don't expect to be called on to speak; enter into the discussion with your comments of agreement or disagreement. When you find yourself disagreeing with other people's interpretations or opinions, say so and tell why, in a friendly way. Considering all points of view is important to group discussions.

S. COME WITH YOUR OWN QUESTIONS IN MIND! As you read the selection, make note of the points on which you'd like to hear the comments of group members.

1. What makes the book distinctive?

2. Is the period in which the book is set important to the theme? Why? Are the values presented dated? How?

3. Is the setting of the book important to the theme? Why? How realistic is the setting?

4. Does the theme of the book relate to the protagonist's gender? How?

5. What did the author attempt to do in the book? Was it successful?

6. Would it make a good movie? Why?

7. What is the author's worldview?

8. Were the plot and subplots believable? Were they interesting?

9. Did the author leave loose ends? What were they?

10. How understandable were the motivations of the characters? What motivated the behavior of the characters?

11. How is the book structured? Flashbacks? From one point of view? Why do you think the author chose to write the book this way?

12. How does the language of the book help convey the theme?

13. Does the author rely heavily on imagery and symbolism?

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Title and author Date of book discussion

1. How did the reading resource guide change the nature or quality of the group's discussion?

2. What part of the reading resource guide did you find most useful in aiding the discussion? Give specific examples.

3. Which question generated the most discussion?

4. Did your understanding of the work of this author increase as a result of the guide?

5. Will you read more of this author's work as a result of the guide or discussion?

6. For what titles would you like to see reading resource guide developed?

This form is one of the tools the Center for the Book uses to evaluate (1) the effectiveness of the Center's efforts to broaden and deepen readers' engagement with literature and (2) the effectiveness of the Center's reading resource guides. Thank you for your help.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Brenda Miller, Public Relations Office Hartford Public Library 500 Main Street Hartford, CT 06103-3075 (860) 695-6360, email: bmiller@hartfordpl.lib.ct.us