• Discussion Guide for Go Home, a working draft.

    The Authors

    Terry Farish and Lochan Sharma spent four years writing Go Home.  Lochan was born in Nepal after his family was exiled from their home country, Bhutan. Now the family lives in Concord, New Hampshire and he’s studying at Keene State College. Terry writes novels in Atlantic Heights, a small neighborhood on the New Hampshire seacoast. Her books have won many awards.

    The Story

    Olive Ronan is a New Hampshire girl, born and raised. Samir Paudel moves to her town the summer they are both sixteen.  He brings experience of another world passed down to him by his Bhutanese-Nepali family.  Also, enter Gabe, the boy Olive loves, whose motorcycle is emblazoned with his creed, “America is full. Go home.”  The three teens become torn by loyalties to family and beliefs about who belongs in their town. Go Home is a timely and provocative story about immigration and prejudice. It’s also a girl’s journey into her own.  

    The Questions. Ideas for Discussion

    1. Go Home is told in Olive’s and Samir’s voices in alternating chapters. How does this narrative style contribute to your understanding of the novel?
    2. What does Samir imagine is American—in the refugee camp, once in New Hampshire? What does he observe at the River’s Tale Café about American businesses? What does he learn from his father? What does it mean to be American to you?
    3. Samir has a small gold Ganesha, a Hindu god with an elephant head. Ganesha symbolizes success and learning. Samir always wears the Ganesha on a chain around his neck. Olive believes the white horse on the island is magical and powerful. What purpose do these amulets play in the novel? Is there an animal or other symbol that represents a strength to you in your culture?
    4. What are the growing views about the Paudels, especially about Samir, that Olive confronts as the book unfolds?
    5. Gabe’s best friend died of a drug overdose. What do you think the novel is saying about loss and grief and how those deep emotions affect what happens in the summer the story unfolds.
    6. Gabe is loyal to his family and others in his community. Do you see evidence that Gabe tries to be loyal to his family and that his own beliefs are not the same as theirs?
    7. If you could respond to one thing a character says in Go Home, what would you want to say to them?
    8. What does Hajurba mean when he says “a horse is good luck. They know how to find the way home.” How do you think it relates to what home is for any of the main characters?
    9. The novel explores people’s need to belong in a place. Can you describe a moment when you felt like you belonged in a place? What did you experience that made you feel at home?
    10. How do you come to understand the stranger or people who are different that come to your community? 

    Have you had discussions about the book? What questions did you find valuable to think about? Please tell us here.

  • Elizabeth Yates Award, 2025. Thank you Concord Library Foundation

    This awed me.  The Concord Library Foudation gave me an award for my books for children and support of literacy, especially my work with refugee and immigrant kids and I’m Your Neighbor Books. Not just any award.  It’s called the Elizabeth Yates Award, for the Newbury-winning author Elizabeth Yates, author of Amos Fortune, Free Man. I’m with the gracious group organizers of the Concord Library Foundation at this event at the Concord (NH) Public Library. To my right Karen Landsman, Yates Award Committee Chair. Thank you. 

  • Kate DiCamillo Talks with one Boy

    This is Kate DiCamillo. 1,300 children filled the Capital Center in Concord, kicking off New Hampshire’s first NH Book Festival But this event was just for kids. Kate showed them it’s ok to live under the spell of stories, in wonder at the world, and if they didn’t, she showed them what it felt like and welcomed them in. She made teachers who read to their kids the stars in the hall. I’ve heard Kate talk to adults, but not to kids the way she was doing, seeing kids in the room, the balcony, the wings. Kind of showing what it looks like to see people. She turned the show over to the children to ask her questions. A little boy in the balcony asked her, “Do you like all your books?” I was sitting next to Lita Judge and we were smiling at the question so hard for a creator. The boy added more softly. “I just want to know.” It felt like it was only the two of them, the boy and Kate, in the enormous space. Kate’s website opens with this quote. “The world is dark and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.” The little boy in the balcony trusted her. We watched this happen. She turned the question to how hard it can be to create and the layers it took to find “The Tale of Despereaux”. I think the boy will mull this over. They make me see the gravity and wonder of writing for children.

  • Find Her by Ginger Reno, a review

    FIND HER by Ginger Reno is a gift to young readers to gently help them understand a reality of the lives of some contemporary Native people in the U.S. The mother of 12-year old Wren has been missing since Wren was a young child. Finding her mother is the focus of Wren’s life. Wren understands that people going missing is not uncommon in her Cherokee community, losses often not resolved by the police even with evidence of crime. Her father is a respected police chief, himself, who is also grieving. Wren discovers a skill in herself to find things. She’s good at finding neighbors’ lost pets. She gets a “finder feeling” and she’s known as the “Finder of Lost Things”. Reno addresses Wren’s painful, long-lastiing grief for her mother and other very hard issues in the community such as bullying. She achieves this truth while also giving Wren a devoted grandmother and a father who love her. This will support young readers who will see Wren’s loss and also the love that gives her strength as she searches for her mother. She knows herself. “She was wolf clan, a protector.”