As Cool As I Am A Novel [Paperback]

As a teenager pretty much left to raise herself, Lucy Diamond is a narrator with a radiant yet guarded heart. As she races at breakneck pace toward womanhood, everything is at stake for her, producing an urgency and dread that she holds at bay with humor and grace. But while Lucy charges ahead, her mother's youth is fading. Simultaneously embracing and resisting their similarities, Fromm reveals both women's emotional vulnerabilities and their deep mutual need. Conveyed through dialogue that is both laugh-aloud-funny and true, Lucy stands out in contemporary literature for her large heart and inimitable grit.

Discussion Questions
1. How does Chuck's word play help forge a bond with Lucy? Might this suggest something about the role language plays, particularly invented language (pet names, homespun sayings, etc.), in our relationships?
2. Is Chuck a good father or a bad one? What points would you make to argue either side? Where do you come out?
3. How would life be different for Lucy and Mame if Chuck worked in Great Falls?
4. What about Lucy's mother? A good or bad one? Why?
5. How does Lucy perceive her body and why? How does this perception influence other aspects of her life?
6. What parallels can you draw between what Lucy learns from her parents and what Kenny learns from his mother by virtue of the examples they set? How do the lessons gained from each shed light on the child/parent relationship? What does Lucy learn from Kenny's parents? What does Kenny learn from Lucy's?
7. What might this tale say about traditional roles of men and women in relationships? Who isreallyin control, Chuck or Mame? Lucy or Kenny? Justin or Lucy? Rabia or Jetter? Mrs. Crauder or Mr. Crauder?
8. What does the story suggest about the rituals, trials and tribulations of coming of age? Does this ring true with your own passage through that era?
9. It has been said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. What would Mame al%