Sold Discussion Guide
This guide was created by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, a reading specialist and children’s author.
A L S O AVA I L A B L E
SOLD
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER
Tr. ed. 0-7868-5171-6
$15.99
Tr. ed. 0-7868-5173-2
$15.99
Pbk. ed. 0-7868-5174-0
$5.99
“In Cut, Patricia McCormick’s debut novel, the narrator cuts herself in order to feel something. . . . Her second novel, My Brother’s Keeper, cuts even more deeply.”
—New York Times Book Review
HYPERION
114 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011
Visit us at www.hyperionteens.com
DISCUSSION GUIDE
H YP ER I O N
ABOUT THE BOOK
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on
1
What is Lakshmi’s life like in her Nepal mountain home? What events create the need for her to go into the city?
2
Discuss the vignette entitled “Everything I Need to Know Now.” What do you think of the cultural mandates that she must live by? Compare it to the vignette of the same title that appears later when she is in the city. How does it represent all the changes in her life?
3
Did you suspect bad intentions on the part of the “auntie” and “uncle” who escorted Lakshmi? Why do you think Lakshmi herself was not suspicious?
What does this show you about her character?
4
What things does Lakshmi wonder about on her journey? What ordinary objects fascinate her? How does this innocence help seal her fate?
5
How does Mumtaz gain control over Lakshmi? What tactics does she use to own her both physically and emotionally? What punishment does she exact on girls who disobey or betray her?
6
Describe the other girls and women in the brothel. How do they accept or rail against their lives there? What does Lakshmi learn from them? In the end, what happens to them?
7
For the festival of brothers and sisters, Harish gives Lakshmi a new pencil.
This small act of kindness undoes her. Why do you think this “undoes” her?
How do others reach out to help one another at the brothel?
8
What does despair look like? How
A L S O AVA I L A B L E
SOLD
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER
Tr. ed. 0-7868-5171-6
$15.99
Tr. ed. 0-7868-5173-2
$15.99
Pbk. ed. 0-7868-5174-0
$5.99
“In Cut, Patricia McCormick’s debut novel, the narrator cuts herself in order to feel something. . . . Her second novel, My Brother’s Keeper, cuts even more deeply.”
—New York Times Book Review
HYPERION
114 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011
Visit us at www.hyperionteens.com
DISCUSSION GUIDE
H YP ER I O N
ABOUT THE BOOK
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on
1
What is Lakshmi’s life like in her Nepal mountain home? What events create the need for her to go into the city?
2
Discuss the vignette entitled “Everything I Need to Know Now.” What do you think of the cultural mandates that she must live by? Compare it to the vignette of the same title that appears later when she is in the city. How does it represent all the changes in her life?
3
Did you suspect bad intentions on the part of the “auntie” and “uncle” who escorted Lakshmi? Why do you think Lakshmi herself was not suspicious?
What does this show you about her character?
4
What things does Lakshmi wonder about on her journey? What ordinary objects fascinate her? How does this innocence help seal her fate?
5
How does Mumtaz gain control over Lakshmi? What tactics does she use to own her both physically and emotionally? What punishment does she exact on girls who disobey or betray her?
6
Describe the other girls and women in the brothel. How do they accept or rail against their lives there? What does Lakshmi learn from them? In the end, what happens to them?
7
For the festival of brothers and sisters, Harish gives Lakshmi a new pencil.
This small act of kindness undoes her. Why do you think this “undoes” her?
How do others reach out to help one another at the brothel?
8
What does despair look like? How