Arlene's Book Club

Read synopsis here.

Discussion Questions:

1. The title of the book, Small Great Things is adapted from Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” What does that mean? What does the characters do to show this?

2. The book is told in three people’s perspectives- Turk, the white supremacist, Ruth, the Black nurse, and Kennedy, the public defender. Did you enjoy reading these three points of view? Did it enhance your reading experience and the book?

Read synopsis here.

Discussion Questions:

1. At the start of the book, A. J. has lots of preferences on books that he will read or not read but by the end of the book his preferences changed. What happened to make him change his preferences? Do you have specifics that determine what types of books you read?

2. A. J. is a bookseller and the book pays homage to books, with references to books throughout the novel. Have you read any of the books or authors mentioned in the novel? (James and the Giant Peach, Alex Cross series, The Book Thief, Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess, Case Histories, Bel Canto, The Awakening, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Cloud Atlas etc.) Did you enjoy reading all the literary references? Why? Which ones did you like the most?

Read synopsis here.

Discussion Questions:

1. Sam’s mother told him that he was given extraordinary eyes because he was going to lead an extraordinary life. What do you think of her approach to his condition of ocular albinism?

2 .”God did not make you different, Fernando. He made you special.“

Sam teaches the same lessons to Fernando as his mother did for him. Do you think that we are like our parents? That we become like them in our old age? Have you said things that your parents said to you?