Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel

A Girl Named Zippy is a memoir of a strange little girl as she grows up in the quaint town of Mooreland in Indiana. Zippy is a very free-spirited girl who gags at the thought of wearing a dress and going to church with her mother and loves having dozens of pets throughout her childhood. Zippy's father is a very particular gambling man who takes hours to double-check the supplies when heading out in the trailer to go camping. Zippy's mother is a very sedentary and very religious woman. Zippy has multiple adventures throughout the book which do not form any kind of single plot (this makes it a book that cannot be summarized); so, here is a summary of the last chapter: When Christmas time neared, Zippy found herself having a strong desire for a piano. When her parents heard this, they winced because money was in short supply in their family. Zippy could not think of anything else in the world she wanted more. She was about to become even more distraught. On the night of Christmas Eve, Zippy's good friend, Julie, was having a Christmas party as their family did every year. During the party, Julie told Zippy to come upstairs; she had something to show her. When they reached Julie's room, Zippy was horrified to see a beautiful keyboard piano that Julie received for Christmas. On her way home, Zippy was about on the verge of tears. But when she walked through her front door, she became ecstatic. It was a piano. It was a piano that was even bigger and better than Julie's. Her delight could not be put into words.

Questions
1. Zippy's family was not as well off as Julie's, but the idea of a piano seemed a lot more appreciated by Zippy than it was by Julie. So, based on these points, do you think it is better to have a bit of a challenging time making ends meet or is it better to be very well off. Explain.

2. Zippy is very much her own person throughout the book and can be described as a nonconformist. Is it better to be a conformist or a non-conformist? Why?

1 comment:

Mitch W 1-2 said...

It's probably better to be able to appreciate these kinds of "Christmas miracles". For Julie, it was probably just another Christmas.

Being a conformist or a nonconformist really depends on the situation. If you were a serial killer, it would probably be better to be a conformist, because you wouldn't want to draw attention to yourself. It's not a matter of conforming on not, it's a matter of being yourself (unless you kill people, in which case you probably shouldn't be yourself).