READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra
Discussion Questions:


1. How do the characters in The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale feel the same or different from the familiar characters in The Wizard of Oz?

2. A big part of Dorothy’s journey is the friends she makes along the way. Are there similar companions in your life?

3. Dee thinks of libraries as her magic kingdom, her refuge, her home. Do you have special memories of a library from your childhood?

4. Both Dee and Sam feel they need to take responsibility for their families after the death of a parent. How are their situations the same or different? Are they sometimes too responsible?

5. How does Dee’s perception of Em change over the course of the story? How does Aunt Em compare with the other mother figures (Judy Gale, Glenda Norton, Janette Clery) in the story? Have your feelings toward a parent or other adult ever changed as you got older?
 
6. Sam and Tim are romantic possibilities for Dee. Do you think she made the right choice for her? Which one would you choose to be with? Why?

7. Dee, Reeti, Fiadh, even Glenda, deal with various forms of discrimination, from academic bias to being exoticized to catcalls on the street (Dee describes it as “the cost of being a woman— the crime of being female in public”). Have you ever been harassed or discriminated against? How did you deal with it?

8. Toni is very young when their mother dies. She has trouble separating real memories of their mother from the stories Dee tells. Are there memories/stories from your childhood that feel that way?

9. “Women who tell the truth are always called witches,” Maeve says. Who are the influential women in your life? What truths did they tell you?

10. Tim and Dee speak different “love languages.” How do they bridge the gap between them? How do you express and receive love? Which do you appreciate most in a partner: what they say or what they do?

11. Maeve tells Dee, “You had the power inside you all along. You just had to find it.” What do you consider your power? When did you first realize it