TEACHERS GUIDE


ABOUT THIS BOOK

Harry Sue is the poignant, heartbreaking, and sometime hilarious story of a girl desperate for her mother’s love, and how compassion, resilience, and friendship can help a person survive just about any hardship that life can dish out.

Harriet Sue Clotkin has had more hardship in her eleven years than most people experience in an entire lifetime. After having been thrown from a seven-story window by her drunken father at the age of five, she has watched her beloved mother be sentenced on a drug charge, been sent to live with her abusive grandmother, and is struggling to keep her best friend, a quadriplegic, from succumbing to depression. Despite these enormous obstacles, Harry Sue’s remarkable courage, love, intelligence, humor, resilience, and compassion steer her toward a personal awakening that changes her life forever. And like the main character in her favorite story, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Sue’s journey toward love, home, and the mother she longs for teaches us that “no one is ever really lost to us. Not as long as you hold them in the palm of your heart.”

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

Sue Stauffacher’s first novel for Knopf, Donuthead, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews, which declared it “touching, funny and gloriously human.” In addition to writing children’s books, Stauffacher is a speaker on the issues of literacy, bullying, and creating a more compassionate culture, drawing on her work as a journalist and educator for more than fifteen years. Visit her Web site at www.suestauffacher.com for the Wizard of Oz “cheats,” a map of Oz, and other fun stuff that makes reading come alive. Hint: Toto’s got the Easter eggs. Stauffacher does good time in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, Roger Gilles; her two sons, Max and Walter; her dog, Sophie; and her cat, Fig.

TEACHING IDEAS

Pre-Reading Activity

Excerpts from Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz appear throughout Harry Sue, including allusions to its characters, plot points, themes, and events. Have students read Oz prior to Harry Sue; then discuss the traits of each major character in the book, challenge students to name the story’s important themes, and demonstrate that careful analysis of the classic novel will enhance their reading of Stauffacher’s text.

Thematic Connections

FRIENDSHIP–Harry Sue and Homer Price share a remarkable friendship. Ask students to discuss how Harry Sue shows that she is a true friend to Homer. What are the character traits she possesses that make her such a good friend. How does she protect him from “falling in the hole”? Discuss what they have in common before and after Homer’s accident. How is their friendship tested in Part 4 of Chapter 3?
Discuss with students Harry Sue’s quote: “It’s like Hansel and Gretel. . . . Both of ’em know that hanging around that witch and eating her candy is a bad idea . . . but they’re starving when they get to that gingerbread house.” (p. 160) What are Harry Sue and Homer “starving” for? How does their support of one another help them to realize how they can move beyond their own pain?

HOPE–Harry Sue constantly dreams of being reunited with her mother. Discuss with students how being in Mrs. Mead’s garden gives her hope that she will see her mother again, and how the light pen that J-Cat gives to Homer represents hope.

Harry Sue has a revelation during her confrontation with Granny, who just prior has been whacking the stuffing out of Oswald, Carly Mae’s teddy bear. “Even though I felt like crying, it felt good too. Relieved. Like all I’d been getting all those years were down letters, and now I might just score parole.” (p. 143) Discuss with students how this revelation gives Harry Sue hope for her future. Ask students how Harry Sue’s story inspires hope in their own lives.

COMPASSION–For a child of abuse, Harry Sue has deep reserves of compassion. She shows this throughout the book in many ways, but none more so than in her relationship with the “crumb-snatchers.” Ask students to discuss how she displays her compassion for these innocent, threatened children, and why they think Harry Sue has such a fierce need to protect them?

When Harry Sue finds Moonie Pie face down in a bathtub overflowing with water, why does she keep repeating to herself, “Don’t hurt my baby”? (p. 209) How does her compassionate nature help her to come to grips with her own past and to ultimately forgive her mother and herself?

LOSS–The theme of loss touches several characters throughout the book: Harry Sue, Homer, Mrs. Dinkins, Mary Bell, J-Cat, and Baba. Discuss with students how each of them finds strength to move beyond their losses. What does J-Cat mean when she refers to Harry Sue and Homer as “fugitives from life”? When Harry Sue experiences despair, she describes herself as “falling.” She also refers to Homer falling into a “hole of sadness.” How is this sensation of falling connected to the losses that Harry Sue and Homer have experienced?

What does Homer mean when he says, “Even crumbs look good to a starving man, Harry Sue.”? (p. 48) During Harry Sue and Baba’s second meal, Baba shares his story as a Lost Boy of Sudan and his experiences of extreme loss. How does this sharing help Harry Sue realize that she must face her own losses and grow from them?

HONESTY–Harry Sue hates liars, and one of her mottos is “keep it real.” Yet she wears a mask that hides her true feelings from all in her life but her “road dogs,” and has a “catalog” of looks that she summons with ease for any given situation. Have students discuss how Harry Sue can reconcile her disdain for liars and her ability to lie to herself.

There are pivotal moments in the story where Harry Sue must face the truth about her past in order to move toward the future. For example, during their second meal together, Baba says, “to heal we need to go back to the time before it happened,” prompting Harry Sue to think about life before living with her grandmother. “I tried to remember before, but I’d laid too many pictures down after. They were on top of the old pictures–the real pictures–and I couldn’t get to those anymore.” (p. 165) What are the “old pictures” Harry Sue is referring to? Discuss with students other turning points in the story where Harry Sue must look honestly at her troubled past.

RESILIENCE–Beginning with surviving a seven-story fall, Harry Sue demonstrates an amazing resilience. Discuss passages in the book that demonstrate Harry Sue’s resilient character. At one point in the story, Harry Sue says, “As you have probably observed, Fish, coping is my middle name.” (p. 182) What elements of her character contribute to her excellent coping skills? How does her ability to cope make her a more resilient person as she faces humiliations at school and abuse from Granny?

Although Harry Sue has every right to be bitter and self-pitying, she refuses to surrender her humanity. How does her kind heart and need for justice help her get through her very difficult life? On the last page of Harry Sue, Mrs. Mead tells Harry Sue, “Some things require the dark night to bloom.” (p. 245) What does she mean by this phrase? How did the horrible events in Harry Sue’s life ultimately make her a stronger and more loving person?

Connecting to the Curriculum

LANGUAGE ARTS–Harry Sue ends on a hopeful note: Harry Sue is living with J-Cat and Baba while she recuperates from the injuries she sustained while trying to save Moonie Pie from drowning. Harry Sue and Homer seem to be coming to terms with their losses and looking toward the future. Ask students to write an additional chapter to Harry Sue that takes place one year after the story’s conclusion.

Harry Sue compares herself to Dorothy throughout the story, but she has much in common with the other leading characters in The Wizard of Oz: the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion. Instruct students to write a short essay describing how Harry Sue is a combination of all four characters from Oz.

Early on in the book, Harry Sue says, “Everybody has a back story, Fish. Garnett, Mary Bell, Homer, me. Remember that when you’re eyeballing a new con. The real story starts somewhere in the past.” (p. 23) Challenge students to write about an influential or pivotal moment in their own “back stories.”

DRAMA–Instruct students to choose a part of the story that would be especially suited to a live performance, such as the standoff between Harry Sue and Granny in the basement, or one of the meals that Baba and Harry Sue share together in the art room. Give students plenty of time to learn their lines and to rehearse their scenes before performing them in front of the class.

SOCIAL STUDIES–Baba shares with Harry Sue his experiences and terrible personal loss as one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” Ask students to research the Sudanese civil war that resulted in thousands of refugees, and the story of how many of these boys were brought to the United States to start a new life.

As a child of an incarcerated parent, Harry Sue is at greater risk of dropping out of school, abusing drugs and alcohol, experiencing mental illness, and committing crimes than children whose parents are not imprisoned. Instruct students to research children of prisoners and to report on their findings. As an extension, have students brainstorm what they can do as a class to help children of prisoners in their own community.

SCIENCE–With a T-5 spinal cord injury, Homer Price is a quadriplegic. Unable to use his four limbs, he can only use the parts of his body above the neck: his head, mouth, and tongue. J-Cat introduces Homer to a device that allows him to draw using a light pen held in the mouth. With technology, Homer is again able to work out his inventions on paper. Instruct students to research advances in spinal cord injury technology, and how severely disabled people like Homer are using these technologies to better their lives.

Harry Sue finds solace in Mrs. Mead’s garden, and at the end of the story, she gardens with Moonie Pie and the other children at Baba and J-Cat’s day care center as a way of healing her heart and her brain. Ask student to research gardening or horticultural therapy and how it is used. In the spring, plant a Harry Sue flower garden with native flowers and plants that are as tough and resilient as Harry Sue.

ART–J-Cat compares Homer’s situation to that of the great artist Henri Matisse toward the end of his life. When Matisse was no longer able to hold a paint brush, his assistants fastened a pencil to his hand so he could continue to draw. He also used large scissors to create the body of work known as cutouts. Allow students to explore the late work of Henri Matisse via the public library and the Internet. Challenge students to create their own cut paper collage inspired by the work of Matisse.

Post-Reading Activity

As a post-reading activity, screen the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz with your class. Throughout the book, Harry Sue cites differences between the book and the film. Discuss those differences with students, as well as any other differences not included in Harry Sue.

VOCABULARY

Vocabulary / Use of Language

Throughout the story, Harry Sue’s use of descriptive language helps the reader to imagine the world in which she lives and the people that she encounters. At eleven years of age, she is an expert at using simile, a description employing the words like or as. For example:

I felt as wide awake as Dorothy when she first eyeballed the giant head of the Wizard of Oz. (p. 65)
Or
That’s how Homer was with a new idea. If you could see it, it would look like one of those bug carcasses that pile up under a spider web: sucked dry. (p. 62)

As students are reading Harry Sue, ask them to highlight examples of simile. After reading, have students choose one simile and make an illustration of it for a classroom gallery.

Harry Sue is focused on getting into prison so she can find her mother. To prepare herself for life on the “inside,” she sprinkles her language with “Conglish,” a “combination of joint jive and English.” Few people other than Harry Sue and Homer understand Conglish, and they like it that way because it’s like a secret code that only they can decipher. Ask students to create a list of slang words that pertain to life in school: some words may already exist and others can be created. Once the list is completed, challenge students to write a short story or a poem using the collection of words.

OTHER TITLES OF INTEREST

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ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Prepared by Colleen Carroll, Education Consultant, Curriculum Writer and Author.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

http://www.suestauffacher.com
http://www.fcnetwork.org
http://www.redcross.org/news/in/africa/0108lostboyspage.html
http://www.cwla.org/programs/incarcerated/default.htm
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/oz/