For Teachers: STORMWITCH
READING GROUP GUIDE AND ACTIVITIES
Stormwitch
by Susan Vaught
published by Bloomsbury Publishing 2005
Ruba Cleo, descendent of the fighting women of Dahomey, Africa, moves from Haiti to Mississippi to live with her American grandmother. Grandmother Jones rejects Ruba’sbeliefs. She calls them hoodoo, calls them sinful--and she’s terrified that Ruba’s strange talk and stranger dress might attract dangerous attention in the small Gulf Coast town of Pass Christian. In 1969, younger blacks take more forceful and hazardous actions to demand change. Opposition from whites comes swiftly, threatening Ruba and her family in ways she never anticipated. As a social storm brews in Pass Christian, an even more lethal storm brews at sea. Hurricane Camille is coming, driven by the deadly warm waters of the Gulf—and an ancient witch with a personal grudge against Ruba and everyone Ruba dares to love.
Susan Vaught offers a gripping page-turner about a young woman struggling to find her place in a strange new home, save the remnants of her family, and claim the power in her
own heart and soul.
STORMWITCH DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND RELATED ACTIVITIES
1. In Stormwitch, Ruba doesn’t understand her American grandmother’s belief in the non-violent philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King. Why do you think Grandmother Jones chose to engage in peaceful resistance to discrimination instead of adopting a more aggressive approach? If you lived during this time period, which type of resistance would you choose?
2. What were some of the benefits of Freedom Summer? What were some of the costs?
3. Are Ray-boy Frye’s racist beliefs his fault? Why or why not?
4. Grandmother Jones tells Ruba, “...this fight, it’s far from over.” Do you agree with this statement? Do you believe “the fight” (for Civil Rights) is over now?
5. When Ruba speaks at her grandmother’s church, she talks about slavery within African tribes. Did this surprise you? Why?
6. How do you think the introduction of guns changed African tribal warfare and politics?
Related Activity: List three people who were instrumental in the Civil RightsMovement. Which one do you admire the most, and why?
7. Ruba believes in magic, spirits, and witches, but Grandmother Jones does not.
How do you think they developed such different beliefs?
8. Is Grandmother Jones wrong to forbid Ruba to practice her own beliefs? Why, or why not?
9. Do you think Ruba should have used her magic more often? Why or why not?|
10. Why do you think people have believed or wanted to believe in weather magic across human history? How do you think weather figured into early beliefs about gods or supernatural beings?
Related Activity: If you could be a weather witch, what part of the weather would you most like to control? Why?
11. How did news and communications differ from present-day when Hurricane Camille struck in 1969? How do you think these differences affected the evacuation?
12. Today, when hurricanes strike, reporters and photographers often take pictures during the storm.
Why do you think there were no pictures taken during
Hurricane Camille?
13. What is a storm surge, and why do storm surges happen?
14. How is a Category I hurricane different from a Category V? If you lived in a coastal area, would you stay or go if emergency officials ordered you to evacuate for a hurricane? What kinds of obstacles or problems might prevent people who want to evacuate from leaving?
Related Activity: Draw a picture or write a poem (word picture) of what it might have been like when Hurricane Camille made landfall.
15. In your opinion, based on what Ruba described, what type of political leader was Haiti’s President François “Papa Doc” Duvalier? Do political leaders like Papa Doc exist today? Who are they? What do you think of them?
16. Who was the President of the United States when Hurricane Camille struck? The governor of Mississippi? The governor of your state? How old were your parents and grandparents?
17. Name two hurricanes that you remember. What do you remember about them?
Related Activity: Ask your older family members if they remember Hurricane Camille. If they do, what do they remember seeing, hearing, or experiencing?
18. What do you think about building houses, hotels, and businesses along coastlines that might be vulnerable to hurricanes? What about areas prone to earthquakes,
mudslides, forest fires, floods, or other natural disasters?
19. The author chose to tell this story in first-person, present-tense. Why do you think she made that choice? How would this story have been different if the author told it in third-person, or in past-tense?
20. What if Clay Potts narrated the tale instead of Ruba? What about Gisele, Grandmother Jones, or Ray-boy Frye?
Related Activity: Choose one scene in Stormwitch and rewrite it from the point of view of another character.
For more information on Susan Vaught and Stormwitch, visit www.susanvaught.com or www.bloomsburyusa.com.
Stormwitch by Susan Vaught
published by Bloomsbury Publishing 2005
