Discussion and Activity Guides
SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS
Some relevant topics: Addiction, weight issues, bullying, art history, Latin and French roots for English words.
Discussion questions:
- SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS follows Mellie as she matures from a kindergartener to an eighth grader. Other than just growing up, how has her character changed by the end of the book?
- Mellie’s parents are very important to her. How does her relationship with them change over the course of the book?
- What’s your first impression of Durindana? Do your feelings about her change as you get to know her? How and why? What about some of the other Parvi: Fidius, for example, or Lady Noctua?
- Fidius had some bad experiences before he met Mellie. How did they affect him?
- How does the Magica Artificia affect the Parvi physically? How about mentally?
- If Mellie drank the elixir, what would she see about herself? How about Timmo? What do you think Mellie’s grandfather saw?
- Mellie makes a big point of saying she and her parents are “round.” What do her parents—especially her mother—seem to think about their weight and Mellie’s?
- Almost everybody in this book has a substance or an attitude they don’t want to give up. You might almost say they were addicted, for better or worse. What are the Parvi addicted to? What about Mellie and her family? Timmo and his family?
Activities:
Building fairy houses is a popular activity on Maine islands. Here’s a spur-of-the-moment one I made on Bear Island, using a bank of moss and the materials within reach.
Here’s a free-standing fairy house somebody built on Maine’s Monhegan Island.
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Build fairy houses like Durindana’s at the end of the book. You can build them indoors or—better yet—out in the woods, using natural materials. Find a tree trunk, a hole in a bank of moss, a small boulder—anything that might attract a fairy who needs shelter from the elements. Use acorns, shells, bark, pebbles or anything you can find to shore it up and decorate it.
Fairy houses crop up a lot in New England. Some of the most famous are built by visiting children on Monhegan and Mackworth Islands off the coast of Maine. I ran into the same tradition during a stay on another Maine island. For more ideas, check out FAIRY HOUSES OF THE MAINE COAST by Maureen Heffernan, executive director of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, or the FAIRY HOUSES books by Tracey Kane. - Find ten Latin words in the book that sound like English. In a dictionary or on-line, research what that word meant to the Romans, and the path it took to become an English word.
- Choose a painting from the past and recreate it as a live tableau, the way Mellie does with The Glass of Absinthe and Venus at the Mirror. (To see some of the paintings Mellie mentions in the book, click here.)
THE UNNAMEABLES
Some relevant topics: Friendship, loyalty, creativity, social evolution, the “functions” of art and history, where names come from, the evolution of English.
Discussion Questions:
- Islanders wear knee-breeches but they also have motorboats. Why do you think they have such a mixture of old-fashioned and modern possessions and ways of doing things?
- What is “Book Talk”? Who uses it and when? Can you think of real-life examples of people changing their style of talking to match the situation?
- How have Medford and the Goatman changed by the end of the book? What have they taught each other?
- Why does Old Prudy turn into New Prudy? And how has she changed by the end of the book?
- How have the events in the book changed Island as a whole? Do you think Island will continue to change after the book ends?
Activities
- Choose several works of art and talk about what their “use” might be.
- Choose Island-like names for everyone in the class (e.g. Board-writer or Pencil-sharpener). For one day, everyone’s function in the classroom must match his or her name. Discuss how that worked and what it felt like. Talk about how our own names may have developed.
- For one day, give everyone Goatman-like names (e.g. “Milk spiller”) that change with every new situation. What did it feel like to have your name change constantly? Why do we have names?
- Do plaster-of-Paris carvings like Medford’s Prudy carving. Here’s how:
You’ll need: sawdust or cornflakes or similar cereal or grain, plaster of Paris, water, a mixing container (plastic or glass), a stick for stirring, several small paper milk cartons with the tops cut off, and, for each participant, a simple kitchen tool such as a butter knife or spoon.
- Cover the work area with paper.
- Mix equal amounts of sawdust and plaster of Paris in the container. (Do not breath in the dust from plaster.)
- Stir enough water into the plaster and sawdust to make a mixture like a thick sauce. (Too little water will leave a mixture that is too stiff and dry. Too much water will make the mixture watery and thin.)
- Pour the mixture into the milk cartons. You need to do this quickly as the plaster will begin to harden in just a few minutes. (Dispose of the mixing container and any scrapings of plaster in the trash. Do not pour them down the sink drain, as this could seriously clog the drain.)
- After about an hour, the mixture will be solid and you can tear away the paper milk carton. You will find a lump of “wood” (actually more like stone) which will feel damp and warm.
- Participants will use a kitchen knife or spoon to scrape away the surface of the plaster to make a sculpture. (If you want, discuss the fact that Michelangelo always said a sculpture already existed inside a block of marble, and all he had to do was chip away the excess marble to get at it. Medford would agree.) Tell participants to get the general shape first, then go for the details. It is easiest to carve the plaster when it is still damp and soft, but you can carve it after the plaster has hardened. Note: plaster of Paris does affect the metal so use old utensils.
Thanks to Peggi Stevens, art teacher at Brooklin Elementary School, for suggesting this activity!