Discussion Questions

1. What do you think about T. Ray's parenting? Do you think that Lily deserves better?
2. Describe the small town of Sylvan, South Carolina.
3. How do you think Lily's life would be different if her mother was still alive?
4. What do you think about the book so far as a whole?
5. Would you recommend this book to anyone?
6. If so, to whom would you recommend it?
7. Do you think that Lily was right in lying to be able to work on the honey farm?
8. Describe the characters of August, May, and June.
9. What happened to April?
10. If you were Lily running away, would you want T. Ray to come looking for you?

1.  I think that T. Ray's parenting is cruel and unusual. HE abuses her not only physically (walking on gritts) but also psychologically (when she does something bad he tells her lies like that her mother left her and T. Ray)

2. It's a sleepy town in Alabama where Lily grew up. It is usually hot in the summer, and also very humid. It has a school, Nochurchs, and a peach stand where Lily spends entire afternoons waiting.

3. If Lily's mother was still alive, her life would be exponentially better. First of all, she would have someone to protect her from T. Ray's cruel punishments and his harsh rules. Secondly, she would be able to have a female role model in her life that would look after her and be able to comfort her when she needs it. 

4. I think of this book in a positive light. I think the book is going to focus a lot on Lily and her journey of running away from her father.

5. Yes, I would recommend this book to other people, it has a good story and well-developed characters. 

6. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird since it deals with a young(ish) girl growing up in the southern United States. Both books also deal with racism against blacks during the 20th century. Although this book does contain some mature language and subject matter, it does not distract from the plot that much.

7. Yes. I think that Lily should be able to to anything in her power to be able to get away from her wreck of a father, including lying to strangers about her past.

8. They are 3 black sisters who work at a honey farm. They are willing to take on Lily and Rosaleen to work for them.

9. April was May's sister who died when she was very young. June has since become very emotional

10. No, since I would not want to tolerate the abuse for 1 more nanosecond.