Lucky Broken Girl

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: ‘Meet’ the Author, Ruth Behar

In this activity, get to know author Ruth Behar from her biography, other writings, and assorted resources. Then create a mock interview in which you compose original questions for the author, as well as her likely first-person responses.

• First, explore Ruth Behar’s website. Note how events from Behar’s own life informed and inspired Lucky Broken Girl, as described on her bio page, “About My Life and Work.”
• Read the “Author’s Note” at the end of the story to gain insight into how Lucky Broken Girl became a novel.
• Listen to a portion of this podcast in which the author discusses Lucky Broken Girl’s success and the impact of writing it on her life (Ms. Behar’s discussion of the novel picks up at 11:20; listen through her discussion about her family members, around 19:00).
• After exploring these resources, brainstorm a list of questions for the author. Your questions should strike a balance between biographical inquiries and questions about the novel.
• Avoid using the same questions as those available at the end of the website’s biography; strive for more involved questions than the ones that appear there.
• Once you have composed 5 or 6 thorough questions, write a response to each question as the author, basing your reply on the information you noted in your exploration of resources. Answers should logically connect to the information available.

Once your interview is complete, edit your writing for clarity. Then, as time allows, share your work with a partner. Choose roles (interviewer and author) and rehearse the questions aloud. Present your interview to the class.

Teaching Suggestion: Offering a few examples might inspire quality questions from students, such as “Who were your real-life mentors, and in what way did you represent them in the novel?” or “Ruthie loves to read; did you enjoy reading, and if so, what kind of books did you often choose?” If you do not have enough time to present whole interviews, students might choose 1-2 of the strongest questions to share.

A longer read for more advanced classes, “Remembering the Woman Who Was My Second Mother in Cuba” offers a look at Ruth Behar’s life through her connection to a childhood caregiver who remained in Cuba after the revolution.

Paired Text Extension:

Read Ruth Behar’s poems “Poems Returned to Cuba” and “Prayer” from her poetry collections.

• Discuss the poems’ images and connotations; then make connections between the poems and the novel.
• Return to your interview with the author. Add one question and one reply that address meaning, theme, imagery, or metaphor in one or both of the poems. Or, your question might address any connections you see between the poems and the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: Students might sense a tone and atmosphere of longing and nostalgia in “Poems Returned to Cuba”; these connect to the family’s feelings about Cuba in Lucky Broken Girl. The poem “Prayer” offers a connection to the novel by way of the theme of Controlling and Overcoming Fear.

Paired Text Extension:

One of Ruthie’s pastimes during her long recovery is writing, made easier after she learns to type on the typewriter Papi brings for her. She tells her mother, “Mami, I want to be an artist, and maybe a writer too, when I grow up” (Chapter 28). Ruthie types personal history stories from Baba and Amara as she listens to them.

In this activity, pretend that you are Ruthie. Write a 1–2-page narrative (story) about a time in a friend or family member’s life that was important or remarkable for some reason. You can choose to write the story that Baba or Amara told, but be certain to express the story as Ruthie would: the writing style, word choice, and sense of drama should represent her character and voice. Or, pretend that another character like Ramu, Mami, Chicho, or another friend or family member shared a personal history tale with Ruthie, and write that story as Ruthie would. Be true to characterization and plot details that already exist in the novel.

Share your story with the class if time allows. When classmates share their stories, point out elements of the story that “sound” like Ruthie authored it.

Teaching Suggestion: You might want to revisit the stories Baba and Amara tell as examples for this activity. Explain that students who choose these characters should retell the story in Ruthie’s voice (rather than copying Baba and Amara’s own narration). Discuss how Ruthie’s version of their stories might differ from the words Baba and Amara speak aloud. A few example sentences from the text, especially Ruthie’s prayers and dialogue, might help students to hear her voice and style.

Paired Text Extension:

What if Ruthie also wanted to be a poet? Construct a poem of 8-10 lines that Ruthie might have written about her cast experience, her time in her room, her excursions to the hospital or outside, or her interactions with family members or friends. The style of the poem is up to you; try to represent Ruthie’s voice and writing style as you did in the story. After you compose Ruthie’s poem, read “Small Prayer” by Weldon Kees. Discuss similarities in imagery and topic between Kees’s poem and Ruthie’s poem and/or Ruthie’s experiences in Lucky Broken Girl.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may be more inclined to share a brief poem than a story. Commonality exists between Kees’s poem and the novel in its imagery of activities, observations, and mental strain on the patient.