before reading this book good information would be

to understand what life would be liek at a young age with a alcholic father, Rick's dad suffers with alcoholism and the rest of the family suffers. Ricks dad is abusive to his mother and the rest of his family. they only way his mother can live is off the income of the father so she is stuck with putting up with Ricks father.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/familyresources/a/dadsetoh.htm

another good thing to take into account would be the fact that they are poor, being extreamily poor can lead to child phycoligical issues. in the story Rick has to work alot to help support his family but his mother is to full of pride to let Rick help full time. all of this leading to emotional and behavoiral issues

http://www.childtrends.org/_pressrelease_page.cfm?LID=AB8E4412-2165-4AF4-95383DA81AFE4D18

http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/2201/1/Dr-Phil-on-living-with-alcoholic-father/Page1.html

-This is an interview with Dr. Phil whose father was an alcoholic. It talks about how growing up with no money effected him and how his fathers alcoholism effected him also.

-The article is from Readers Digest April 2005 and was wrote by Laura Yorke.

- This article would be useful to the reader before reading this book because it basically has the same effect on both of them. The things that Dr. Phil had to go through were the same things that RIck Bragg went through with his father. And half of the time Rick's father wasnt even there for his three kids and his wife. In this article they talk about how dr. phil had to do the paper route and if he didnt get the money they wouldnt eat. RIck was the same way they didnt have much either. They we both very poor growing up.

-Some ides i would like them to think about how growing up without a father would be like. When he was there he was always drunk. And also how growing up with very little of anything would be like.

This video here talks about the family and what they can do to help the member of the family that is an alcholic.

http://www.nicd.us/alcoholism-and-the-family-Video.html

this video is from the national institute on chemical dependency.

this would be useful to the readers ecause it talks about alcholism. And what it is. it talks about how it effects family members and what family members can do to help. You dont want to help so much but try and help a little bit. In the book ricks father is never there and he is a big part of the family. THis video kinda goes with it and shows what the family schould do.

They should thinkk about what they would do if there father was an alcoholic and they bearly got to eat because when the father was there he was always spending the money on beer and whisky.

Book Discussion

Before reading this book, I would say it would be very helpful to know what it is like living in the south, it is much different down south than living up here in Iowa. Rick Bragg was very poor as a child, you would have to have an idea of what that is like, or what he had to go through everyday just to get by. His father was an alcoholic so it would be useful if you some what knew what that would be like to have a father that wasn't always there for you because he would rather get drunk.

To have an idea of what that is like, I would suggest reading the article, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20090729/news/907289915?Title=24-of-Alabama-kids-living-in-poverty. This article tells you about living in poverty in Alabama. It states all the statistics of families living in these awful situations. Living in poverty is something alot of us don't know much about, the video, http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour.htm, tells the facts about life in poverty, and what we can all do to help every day so people don't have to go through all the tough, difficult days nobody wants to live through.

I Think it would be very usefull for people who plan to read this book to think about how it would be to be living in the south, while being poor, and having an abusive father that also happens to be an alcoholic.
Rick Bragg, had to deal with a lot of hard stuff when he was a kid, these are only a few of the problems that he faces. I belive that if you are thinking about those three things before reading the book you will get a better overall understanding of the story.

This link Expresses the importance of a GOOD father figure, http://www.videcomp.com/fsnet/watson65.html,
It has some things in it that i dont neccesarily agree with, for instance it says that him just being there makes kids less likely to use drugs/alcohol or have sex b4 marriage. I dont think that those are true... especially the last one, because fathers kid around with their sons about stuff like sex because they dont have the confidence to actually sit down with their kids to talk about it.. Fathers kid around with their sons about sex, making the children more comfortable about sex, so i think that a father does the opposite of what the text says.. And as far as drugs and alcohol go i think that its the kids that a child hangs out witht that are going to be the variable in weather or not they experiment with drugs and alcohol.
This text also says that the father should be a calming inluence, well in Bragg's case it was actually the complete opposite.

This link describes what it is like to be poor, http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/, I think it is kind of crude and vulgar.. but i belive it gets the point accross.. That is that growing up poor is hard, it has its challenges. Before reading this book i knew that Bragg grew up poor, thats kind of part of the main point of the book.

Discussion

Who would the book appeal to?

This book is not for someone who is just beginning to read, because it uses quite a bit of big vocabulary.. so basically anyone over 16 could be drawn to it.

The book deals with some southern aspects too, so people from the south might be able to bring more of a connection with it and enjoy it more than the next person.

The book also is telling a story of a basically broken home. So anyone who has ever had to deal with situations like what you read in the book would like it tooo.

What about it is appealing?

I like the fact that the author sets the tone so well, when your reading it Bragg really makes you feel like you were there at the time. He is very specific with his emotions and how he felt about things.. he also is good at describing the situations of the time.

What obstacles should student readers of this book be ready for?

Challenging dialogue, Braggs' uses a lot of big and challenging words in this book. Its important to understand everything that is being said, because most of the time the most challenging words that he uses are intended to be the most powerful & moving.

What would students need to know about in-order to understand the book?

They would basically need to read the prologue of the book, i didnt at first and was lost, but after i read it i understood a lot more stuff.. this isnt supposed to be a book of him bashing on his father and telling lots of stories about him, although he does this a lot.. The main point is to show how strong and great of a person that is mother is.

You also need to understand the situation in which they are living in and where they are at. They are very poor and cannot afford what most people can... They are also in the south, so somethings that they are accustomed to there we may not understand.

What issues does the book deal with that students might be interested in discussing?

Rick Bragg had one of the worst fathers ever it seems like, and something that is interesting is all the things that Bragg explains him doing. A big thing in the book, for me, is seeing how his father messed up next. Another thing to discuss is the level of poverty that they were at, i think its enteresting to ponder how it must be or if someone could make it today in our economy if they were as poor as Bragg explains his family to of been.

Is there any "mature" content in the book? If so, what kind of content? How would you deal with such content in class?

Well there Isn't any content in the book so far that I would really concider mature to the point where if it was a movie it would be rated R. The book gets into how his father used to beat his mother pretty intently, but other than that and some language the book is prettty straight edge. And as far as discussing it in class, well i think that at this point we are all big enough, and hopefully mature enough to discuss basically anything in class.. So i would just go at it just as i would any other discussion.

Book Discussion

Who would the book appeal to? This book would be appealing to about everyone. I think people who maybe grew up in a poor family would relate to it easy, and people who grew up down south who knows what it was like going through what Rick went through everyday. It is kind of a hard book to read, I would say the age of fifteen and up would be fine reading this book.

What about it is appealing? The way Rick shows all his emotions and feelings really make the book exciting, it shows what he went through on a day-t0-day basis.

What would students need to know in order to understand the book? The students would need to know that life down south is alot different from life in Iowa. They would also need to know that he was a very poor kid growing up, he went through stuff most kids don't even think about going through to survive as a child.

What issues does the book deal with that students might be interesting in discussing? Some interesting issues that go on in the book is seeing what he went through when he was a child, he grew up in a very poor family, and learning about what he had to do is very interesting to me. If you could think of the worst example as a father, Rick's would fit the description almost perfectly, he would always walk out on his family, he was never there when his children needed him the most, even though his family was poor, that is no excuse to walk out on them when his children needed a father in there lives, and his wife needed a husband in her life.

Is there any "mature" content in the book? If so, what kind of content? How would you deal with such content in class? There is some mature content in this book, it talks about how Rick's father would beat people. His mother went through some depression I think by what she did to her children, but mostly sadness, she was in a way embarrassed that her children had to live such a rough life style. I would deal with it in a way that I knew exactly what I said was right about his childhood.

Questions for the book...

Who would the book appeal to?
I think this book would appeal to anyone I think. I dont think anyone under the age of 16 should read it because it uses some very big vocabulary and i dont think it would make sense to them as it would to older teens and young adults. I think anyone that has experienced a father that has left and came back multiple times should read this maybe they would learn something from it or something.
What about it is appealing?
I thinkk it is appealing because the author keeps in all his feelings and doesnt really tell his dad how he feels. I am real amazed that at the beginning of the book he tells us that his father had nothing to do with him writing the book and it was after his grandma passed when he started to write it. As of right now i cant really see his grandma being a big part of his life. the only time we hear about her is when their father leaves most of the time they end up at her house.
What obstacles should student readers of this book be ready for?
The emotion the author uses when he is talking about his father and the importance of his mother.
What would students need to know about in order to understand the book?
Students should know what the feeling of living in the south was like. how living with no money at all was like and how living with a father that leaves whenever he wants and doesnt come back months or even years latr and when he is with you he is a total drunk.
What issues does the book deal with that students might be interested in discussing?
Realising how poor they are. Also you should be interested in the way his mother deals with all of this. She takes care of three boys they know they cant always get what you want and you should also know she works all the time just to try to feed them.
Is there any “mature” content in the book? If so, what kind of content? How would you deal with such content in class?
there is alot of physical abuse with the father beating his mother. a lot of mental abuse with the father leaving all the time. Just make sure you know who the author is talking about sometimes it jumps around and you can get confused but if you know who he is talking about you should get the content.