Gold Rush Resources: Discussion Questions

Cushman, Karen. (1996). The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. New York: Clarion Books.

Discussion Questions for The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Reader's Theater for The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Links to Information About the Author
Teacher Resources & Lesson Plans for The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

Book Description from inside the book jacket:

Lucy Whipple doesn't want to be in Lucky Diggins, California. Mama has dragged the family here all the way from New England, and it's nothing but a cluster of tattered tents by the side of a river. You said we'd find our fortunes, but I don't see any gold, Lucy tells Mama. Only rocks and holes and lizards. There's no school, no lending library, no one to talk to but rough and boisterous miners. Everything Lucy cares about has been left behind, and she plans to be miserable until she can go back to Massachusetts.

The colorful, rough-and-tumble life of a California mining settlement provides a lively backdrop for a vivid first-person narrative in which remarkable history of the California gold rush is intertwined with a funny poignant story of how Lucy Whipple finds her way home.

Book Discussion Questions for The Ballad of Lucy Whipple :
Questions written by Anne Miller

1) When Lucy and her family arrive in Lucky Diggins, her mother looks around and she thinks its grand. Lucy disagrees. Why do they both have such differing opinions?

Lucys mother sees the land, the trees, the setting sun and Lucy is so focused on feeling miserable about having been dragged to California, that all she can see is filth and squalor. The way that people perceive the world around them is often influenced by their feelings. She misses the things she left behind in Massachusetts and can't see how life in California could ever make up for what she has lost.

2) Lucys father died in Massachusetts. How is his presence felt in the book? How did his death affect Lucy and the other members of the family?

In chapter four, Lucy talks about her father. She tells a story about his desire to see the world and see change. Lucy, however, doesn't like changes. She says, I just gets used to green leaves when they turn red, just start liking red leaves when they fall. Perhaps the biggest change that Lucy had to experience was the death of her father. In the space of three weeks, he sickened and died and not long after her mother decided to move the kids to California. Perhaps Lucy's mother was trying to honor her fathers memory by moving. For Lucy, however, moving to California was just another frightening transition making her feel even further away from her father.

3) In chapter four, Lucy tells a story about her father gently catching a woodpecker to show Lucy and then freeing the bird. What is this act symbolic of? How is it replayed throughout the book?

When Lucy was in Massachusetts, she asked her father to keep the woodpecker in a cage because it would be safer there than in the woods. Her father refuses, saying that there are more important things than being safe. For him, feeling excitement, wonder and awe are also important. For most of the book Lucy keeps trying to return to Massachusetts in large part because it is a place that she understands and feels is safe. As Lucy begins to feel better about being in California, and as she learns that being safe isn't always possible, her growing sense of adventure and self-confidence is symbolized by her willingness to free other things, first the dragonfly and later the raccoon.

4) How does Lucy react to instances of prejudice and injustice?

When Lucy first meets Bernard she doesn't know what to think of him. He is the first African-American that she has ever met and she is curious and a little afraid of him. As they get to know each other better, the two of them develop a friendship. Moreover, as she learns more about him, she begins to understand her own prejudices better and the narrowness of her world view. In chapter 16, her conversation with him about his name as well as her defense of him after the fire, reflects her growing understanding. Another important incident which shows how she reacts to injustice centers on her support of Mrs. Flagg after she is accused of murdering her husband in chapter 13. At this point in the book, Lucy understands that people's lives are complicated and that what is seen on the surface doesn't always show what is happening underneath. Here, too, she is willing to defend what she believes is right even when she speaks alone.

5) At the end of Chapter 13, Lucys mother wonders if she did the wrong thing, dragging the children into the wild. She wonders if she was responsible for Buttes death. Did she do the wrong thing?

It is human nature for people to wonder whether things might have turned out better if they hadn't made one or another decision. Certainly the decision to move west affected all of Lucy's family but no-one can know if their lives would have been safer, happier or better in Massachusetts. Lucy tells her mother that her father and sister died in Massachusetts and that people die everywhere. In Chapter 13, Lucy and her mother have a conversation about safety and God and learning to trust.

6) After Butte dies, Lucy says in a letter to her grandparents that she didn't know she loved him. Do you think that is true?

There are many times in the book when the two siblings are in competition or arguing about one thing or another. But there are also times when they both help each other and therefore show their love for each other. Perhaps Butte helps Lucy sell her pies not only because he will earn money but also because he wants to support her. Butte also rides to another town to get the deputy after Lucy convinces him that Mr. Coogan might be dangerous. Here again, he shows regard for Lucy's opinion. After Butte's accident in the river, he and Lucy have several conversations about death and dying during which they open up to each other about their feelings. Lucy shows her love for Butte in her attempt to reassure him (and herself) that he won't die.

7) At the end of the book, Lucy decides to stay in California. Were you surprised? What clues did the author give us that indicated Lucy might do this? In her last letter, she signs her name California Morning Whipple. What is this symbolic of?

We see Lucy's growing sense that being free is better than being safe in her friendship with Bernard, in her refusal to go to the Sandwich Isles and willingness to stand up to her mother and in the symbolic act of her freeing the raccoon. We see her growing affection for California and Lucky Diggins in her friendships with the miners and with the people of the town.

Related Websites:

1. Author Spotlight: Karen Cushman
   From: Houghton Mifflin Education Place


2. Learning About Karen Cushman, Compiled by: Tom Ruddy and Laurie Ferrone with Kay E. Vandergrift
   From: Learning About Author and Illustrator Pages developed by Kay E. Vandergrift at Rutger's School of Communication, Information and Library Studies


3. LEARNING ABOUT KAREN CUSHMAN, Written by Sonia Berlin
   From: Learning About Author and Illustrator Pages developed by Kay E. Vandergrift at Rutger's School of Communication, Information and Library Studies

1. Karen Cushman Teacher Resources
   From: the Internet School Library Media Center
   This site contains numerous links to websites containing biographies of Karen Cushman and units and lesson plans on The Ballad of Lucy Whipple as well as other books by Cushman.


2. Traveling With The Pioneers, a lesson plan that incorporates The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
   From: Making Connections, a web resource developed by the Louisiana Center for Educational Technology (LCET) for the Louisiana Department of Education.


3. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
   From: Eduscapes, a web resource for educators developed by two educators and professional web developers, Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson.
   This site provides numerous lesson plan ideas and book extensions but no actual lesson plans. It does contain a list of links to other sites related to westward expansion in general, and the gold rush specifically.