A Long Way from Chicago

In the Prologue, Joey says that his memories of summers with Grandma are getting truer as the years pass. What do you think Joey means by this? How can memories become more true or false over time? What does this statement say about how our memories change as we get older and more experienced?

Explore the messages A Long Way From Chicago offers about lying and manipulating the truth. Choose three instances in which Grandma misleads someone to get her desired results. Could Grandma have relied on the truth, rather than deception, in these situations? If so, how? Outline what she could have done. If not, why wouldn’t the truth have worked in these situations? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Analyzing the events of Chapter 3, draw your own conclusions about if and when laws are meant to be broken. Do you agree with Grandma’s reasons for breaking the laws she breaks? Why or why not? Use at least two to three examples from the text to prove your point.

Why do you think Grandma switched the names on the pies in Chapter 4? Do you think she was trying to win or trying to lose? What would her motivations be for each? Does her reason for switching the names change your opinion of her actions? Why or why not?

Compare and contrast how Joey and Mary Alice grow and change over the course of the book. How do they change in similar ways? Different ones? By the end of the book, do you think they are closer or that they’ve grown farther apart? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

How does the competition in the town, both among the townspeople and encompassing the townspeople’s views on outsiders, engage with the Urban Versus Rural Lifestyles theme? Where does this competitive nature come from, and why are townspeople so adamant about bringing pride to where they live? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Explore the different ways in which members of families in A Long Way From Chicago offer one another strength. How do the lessons Joey and Mary Alice learn from their grandmother make them stronger people, and how do they make Grandma stronger in return? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

How does the retrospective narrative format of A Long Way From Chicago affect your perception of the overall story? How does this format contribute to the exploration of the book’s major themes?