Passaic Public Library’s Comments (group member since Sep 14, 2015)

Passaic Public Library’s comments from the Passaic Public Library group.

I'd give this book a 2/5. Some of it is chillingly realistic and some of it... Doesn't really connect. Maybe the alternating POVs is why it doesn't quite work. I never got too close to the characters and the plot towards the end got away from the author. Very predictable. Not bad but the similarity themed "Silent Alarm" is much, much better.

What do you think? Please comment below.

Kendra works hard to hide her modern origins from nearly everyone in her new time period and struggles to explain the term serial killer to her 19th-century audience, given that Jack the Ripper wouldn’t be around for another 73 years. In a similar situation, would you be tempted to reveal your modern identity? Would you talk to anyone about pivotal historical events that you knew were upcoming? Would you feel any ethical responsibility to try and prevent disastrous events or to explain modern inventions (basic medical innovations, etc.) or would you feel that it was safer to let history play out organically?

When Kendra falls back in time, she has no control over the time period in which she landed. If you were to be pulled back in time, what era would you most like to end up in? How would your individual skills in the modern world translate in your new surroundings? Which time period do you think that
Kendra would pick for herself, given the choice?

19th-century England was rigidly structured by class, but Kendra occupies a uniquely fluid position in the castle, befriending everyone from her fellow maid Rose to Lady Rebecca. Regardless of status, both Rose and Lady Rebecca face constrictions in their lives—what are the differences between the restrictions placed on the servant class and upper class women? Compare Kendra’s relationship with the two women—does she treat them differently?

Arguably the most difficult adjustment for Kendra is learning to tolerate society’s ideas about what women can and cannot do in early 19th-century England. In what ways does she struggle against society’s dictates? Did you learn anything new about women’s (and men’s) lives at the beginning of
the 19th century? Were there any particular historical details that stood out to you?

Even before Kendra falls back in time, she faces incredibly difficult situations. What are the qualities in Kendra that you admired the most? What is it about Kendra that allows her to persevere and adapt to a new time period?

We learn early on that Kendra’s relationship with her parents is complicated. How do you think her childhood experiences shaped her worldview, and how does that play into her relationships throughout the book?

Discussion Questions
Please feel free to respond to one, all, or some of the below questions! Questions provided by The Big Library Read.

Or if you prefer, simply add your review of the novel.

1. What do you think McKinley’s fairy tales talk about?

2. McKinley has been described as being “afraid neither of great beauty nor of great evil...” how do you think this applies to The Door in the Hedge?

3. How does McKinley treat the classic stereotypes of fairy tales?

4. How is McKinley’s depiction of good and evil represented in The Door in the Hedge?

5. What is the significance of the title? Would you have chosen a different title for this collection? Why or why not?

6. What was the most pivotal scene in each of the stories? How do you think the stories would have been different if those scenes were not included?

7. How important is the setting and time period in The Twelve Dancing Princesses?

8. Although the stories are fairy tales, were there any identifiable racial, cultural, traditions, gender, sexuality or socioeconomic factors at play in the book? If so,what? How did it affect the characters?

Do you think they were realistically portrayed?

9. Discuss how each of the characters has changed by the end of the book?

10. Are there any books that you would compare this one to? How does this book hold up to them?

11. Have you read any other books by this author? Were they comparable to your level of enjoyment to this one?

12. What did you learn from, take away from, or get out of this book?

13. Did your opinion of the book change as you read it? How?

14. In “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” what similarities and differences are shown between their re-tellings and the originals (“The Frog Prince” and “Twelve Dancing Princesses,” respectively)?

15. Fairytales often teach valuable lessons. What lessons do the characters in each short story learn?

16. What traditional elements of fairytales do you find in McKinley’s original stories, “The Hunting of the Hind” and “The Stolen Princess?” (Examples: set in the past, happy endings, magical elements, etc.)

17. What do you think the faeries in “The Stolen Princess” did with the little boy they took in the Prologue?

18. What is the importance of the blue flowers in “The Stolen Princess?”

19. In “The Stolen Princess,” Lindal looks to leave Faerieland and Donathor wants to accompany her. Saying goodbye to his parents, it appears he will not be able to go back through the hedge. Why can’t he travel between both worlds if his people are able to take people from the human world?

Discussion Questions
Please feel free to respond to one, all, or some of the below questions! Questions provided by The Big Library Read.

Or if you prefer, simply add your review of the novel.

1. Mary Shelley Black describes 1918 as “a year the devil designed.” What was your knowledge of 1918 history before reading In the Shadow of Blackbirds?

2. Aunt Eva goes to great lengths to protect both herself and Mary Shelley from the 1918 flu. What would you have done to protect yourself from the “Spanish influenza”? Which modern health trends do you believe will be looked upon as odd or excessive in the future?

3. Archival photographs and illustrations appear throughout the novel. How do these images enhance Mary Shelley’s descriptions of the time period?

4. Mary Shelley and Stephen’s time together is shown through letters, flashbacks, and even spirit communication.

How does their relationship compare to that of couples in more traditional love stories? How does it differ?

5. In his letter from jail, Mary Shelley’s father writes, “We have a great deal of fight inside us, and sometimes our strength of spirit forces us to choose truth and integrity over comfort and security.” Have you ever had to make a decision that didn’t feel safe, but you believed it to be right?

6. Mary Shelley is initially skeptical of Julius’s spirit photography, and ghosts in general, until Stephen appears. Have you ever had a paranormal experience? How did your own view of ghosts influence your reading of the novel?

7. Stephen says of his brother’s photography customers, “I hate seeing people so desperate for proof of the after-life they’ll sacrifice just about anything to communicate with the dead.” What modern-day scams compare to Julius’s practice of convincing mourners he’s photographing spirits?

8. What impact do the young men from the Red Cross House have on Mary Shelley? How do they help her understand both her father and Stephen?
9. Most every character in the novel has his or her bravery tested. What does it mean to be brave? What do you feel was Mary Shelley’s bravest moment?

10. How was the ending of the novel similar to your predictions about the conclusion? How was it different?

11. In Stephen’s letter that’s tucked inside the picture frame, he includes a postscript referring to Mary Shelly’s originality. How do you define originality? How do you exhibit originality?

12. How will Mary Shelley “come back fighting?” What do you think she will do with her life? How will her experiences in the novel affect her future actions?

The Big Library Read E-Book Club Selection #2

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

The Big Library Read E-Book Club Selection #1

Summary:The last mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. There is nothing to show a boundary, at least on the mortal side of it; and if any ordinary human creature ever saw a faerie—or at any rate recognized one—it was never mentioned; but the existence of the boundary and of faeries beyond it is never in doubt either. So begins “The Stolen Princess,” the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. “The Princess and the Frog” concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. “The Hunting of the Hind” tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every night.