—A U T H O R B I O—
James McBride is an author, musician
and screenwriter. His landmark
memoir, "The Color of Water," rested
on the New York Times bestseller list
for two years. It is considered an
American classic and is read in schools
and universities across the United
States. His debut novel, "Miracle at
St. Anna" was translated into a major
motion picture directed by American film icon Spike Lee. It
was released by Disney/Touchstone in September 2008.
James wrote the script for "Miracle At St. Anna and
co-wrote Spike Lee's 2012 "Red Hook Summer." His novel,
"Song Yet Sung," was released in paperback in January
2009. His latest novel "The Good Lord Bird," about
American revolutionary John Brown, is the winner of the
2013 National Book Award for Fiction.
James is also a former staff writer for The Boston Globe,
People Magazine and The Washington Post. His work has
appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York
Times. His April, 2007 National Geographic story entitled
“Hip Hop Planet” is considered a respected treatise on
African American music and culture.
James is a native New Yorker and a graduate of New York
City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin
Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his Masters in
Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age
22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently
a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York
University.
—R E A D A L I K E S—
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Chronicles the daring survival story of
a cotton plantation slave in Georgia,
who, after suffering at the hands of
both her owners and fellow slaves,
races through the Underground
Railroad with a relentless
slave-catcher close behind.
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
Cloudsplitter is dazzling in its
re-creation of the political and social
landscape of our history during the
years before the Civil War, when
slavery was tearing the country apart.
But within this broader scope, Russell
Banks has given us a riveting,
suspenseful, heartbreaking narrative
filled with intimate scenes of domestic
life, of violence and action in battle, of
romance and familial life and death
that make the reader feel in astonishing
ways what it is like to be alive in that
time.
The House Girl by Tara Conklin
entertaining”
-USA Today
A novel of love, family, and justice
follows Lina Sparrow, an ambitious
first-year associate in a Manhattan law
firm, as she searches for the "perfect
plaintiff" to lead a historic class-action
lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in
reparations for descendants of
American slaves.
(Source: Jamesmcbride.com, 2016)
“Outrageously
“So imaginative, you’ll race
to the finish”
-NPR.org
(Source: NoveList Plus, 2016)
—DISCUSSION QUESTIONS—
— S U M M A R Y —
1) The novel opens with a newspaper article about the
discovery of an old document -” a wild slave narrative.”
Did having this context from the onset adjust your
expectations of what would come? Would you have
read the novel differently if this article hadn’t been
included?
8) The Old Man attaches significance to several unlikely
objects; among his collection of “good-luck baubles” are the
feather of the Good Lord Bird and the dried-up old onion
that Henry eats, earning him his nickname. Why does a man
like John Brown accumulate such objects? Why does he call
them both “good-luck charms” and “the devil’s work”?
2) When they first meet, the Old Man misidentifies
Henry as a girl, forcing “Little Onion” to disguise himself
as a girl for much of the story. How does Little Onion’s
attitude toward his disguised identity change
throughout the novel? How does he use it to his
advantage?
9) Since the publication of this book, repeated comparisons
have been made to Mark Twain. Do you see this similarity?
If so, where? Does James McBride’s writing style remind you
of any other authors or books? In what ways is this a
“classic” American story, and it what ways does it feel more
contemporary or otherwise different?
3) Discuss the significance of the title. Fred tells Little
Onion that a Good Lord Bird is “so pretty that when man
sees it, he says, ‘Good Lord,’” and that a feather from
this bird will “bring you understanding that’ll last your
whole life.” What role do the Good Lord Bird and its
feathers play in John Brown’s story? In Little Onion’s?
Why is the title appropriate for the novel?
10) Loyalty is a major theme in the book. Political beliefs are
a matter of life and death. Even Little Onion feels conflicted
about whether to stick by John Brown’s side or flee from
him. Where do the major characters’ loyalties lie, with
regard to each other and with regard to the cause of
abolition? Are the allegiance lines as cut-and-dried as you
might expect?
4) In what ways is this a narrative about Onion? In what
ways it is a narrative about larger issues? How do these
two aspects of the novel interact?
11) The measures that John Brown and his posse take in The
Good Lord Bird could be seen today as those of
revolutionaries, even terrorists. What would your response
to Brown and his actions have been if you had lived during
that tumultuous era of American history?
5) How familiar were you with John Brown and the
events at Harpers Ferry before reading the book? Has
the fictional retelling changed your perceptions of John
Brown as he relates to American history?
Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas
Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground
between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John
Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an
argument between Brown and Henry's master quickly
turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town--with
Brown, who believes he's a girl.
Over the ensuing months, Henry--whom Brown
nicknames Little Onion--conceals his true identity as he
struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds
himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry
in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War.
An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and
told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and
character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing
adventure and a moving exploration of identity and
survival.
(Source: Goodreads.com, 2016)
(Source: Penguin.com, 2016)
6) The novel includes several historical figures-John
Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman. Does the
blending of actual, historical events and figures with the
author’s fictional reimagining of them make you rethink
history? Explain why or why not.
7) Consider the use of dialect in the novel. The narrator,
Little Onion, speaks with a very particular dialect; the
Old Man, who constantly refers to the Bible, speaks with
a different cadence and rhythm entirely. What roles do
speech, dialect, and elocution play in this story?
(Drawing of the John Brown Raid, at the Engine House)
(The first known portrait of John Brown is a
daguerreotype, August 1846)