A JOURNEY TO THE NEW WORLD
Dear America Series
Twelve-year-old Remember Patience Whipple (“Mem” for short) has just arrived in the New World with her parents after a grueling 65-day journey on the MAYFLOWER. Mem has an irrepressible spirit, and leaps headfirst into life in her new home. Despite harsh conditions, Mem is fearless. She helps to care for the sick and wants more than anything to meet and befriend a Native American. Her wish comes true when she meets Squanto, who helps Mem and her family face a year of trial, tragedy, and thanksgiving.
Twelve-year-old Remember Patience Whipple (“Mem” for short) has just arrived in the New World with her parents after a grueling 65-day journey on the MAYFLOWER. Mem has an irrepressible spirit, and leaps headfirst into life in her new home. Despite harsh conditions, Mem is fearless. She helps to care for the sick and wants more than anything to meet and befriend a Native American. Her wish comes true when she meets Squanto, who helps Mem and her family face a year of trial, tragedy, and thanksgiving.
- Scholastic
- Hardcover
- September 2010
- 176 Pages
- 9780545238014
Buy the Book
$12.99
About Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the Newbery Honor author of over one hundred fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her critically acclaimed titles include Beyond the Burning Time, True North, and the Guardians of Ga’Hoole fantasy series, as well as several titles in the Dear America series. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Discussion Questions
Names play an important role in this diary. Why did Mem’s parents name her Remember Patience Whipple? Does Remember seem like a good name for her?
Why did Mem choose to call her diary Imp? Do you have a name for your diary? How did you come to call it this?
Mem’s mother presented her with a diary as they sailed into their new life. She told her daughter that the book was to be like her best friend but then she changed her mind. “No, ’tis closer than your closest friend, ’tis like another part of you, a true and real part of you.” What did Mem’s mother mean? Why?
Mem mentions many other people on the Mayflower. Besides Mem, which person in the diary do you like the most? Which person do you like least?
How did the passengers on the Mayflower come to be called pilgrims, and why does Mem like the word?
What are two things you remember from Mem’s description of the first Thanksgiving in the Plimoth Settlement?
How do Mem’s ideas about the “feathered men” change during this book?
The diary is filled with both happy memories and sad memories. What do you think was Mem’s happiest memory and her saddest memory?
What is the one word that you think best describes Mem?
Is there anything (value/belief) you feel so strongly about that you would move to an unknown land for it?