Carolyn Wilhelm reviews Carnival Lights

Title: Carnival Lights
By: Chris Stark
 Publisher: Modern History Press
Author Website: https://www.christinestark.com/
ISBN-10: 1615995781
ISBN-13: 978-1615995783
 Price: Hardcover $37.95, Paperback $24.95, Kindle $6.95
 Page Count: 268
 Formats (HC, PB, Kindle)
 
With good reason, two teens run away from a reservation and get jobs at the Minnesota State Fair. Although the book has a linear story within the pages, it also has a spiraling story going back generations explaining how families pass down their problems. Society also hands down its ills, of course.

“The grief of her people lived within her and was a way of knowing, with or without her conscious understanding.”
Stark, Chris. Carnival Lights (p. 221). Modern History Press. Kindle Edition.

What a read! Oh, my. This book hit me especially hard being a resident of northern Minnesota as well as Minneapolis. I walked exactly where the girls walked, went to the fair, and understand 1969 – the setting of the book. I was about their age in 1969. Of course, I was aware of the poverty in the Native American reservations. However, we attended Pow Wows and visited some people, so that I was unaware of the danger to women and children. I have been to Duluth dozens of times and cannot again pass through there looking at the ships with ignorance. We lived in Grand Marais on Lake Superior and I knew there was trafficking, but thought it was all at the border for some reason. 

10 Discussion Questions for Carnival Lights

 
1. How does Stark set up the first chapters so we are convinced Sher and Kris had no choice but to run away? What are several of the convincing reasons provided? 
 
2. Did you expect the girls would get to the fair rather quickly and experience problems there? What surprised you about the book with generational stories interwoven with the experience of the girls’ bus trip and arrival in Minneapolis?
 
3. Why did the girls spend several days in downtown Minneapolis? Who did Sher call, thinking they might find help? How did they get food? The Vietnam war protest added drama as well as helped explain the times. How was Kris always going ahead and doing things while Sher wanted to hold back?
 
4. How do they meet Tricia? Why does she say the following:

“Get this,” the woman said, “a couple of farm girls showing me the city.”
Stark, Chris. Carnival Lights (p. 118). Modern History Press. Kindle Edition.

5. Why do they decide or were told to leave several of the places they briefly stayed? What was the one place they wanted to stay? Why?

6. When in Minneapolis, Stark again sets up the reasons why the girls do not try to find help. Why would they not reach out to a social worker? Why do you think the church where they sat on the steps asked them to leave, probably knowing they were in trouble? 

7. How does the author explain most of Sher’s family acceptance and knowledge of her as contrasted with what her mother thought:

“Sher’s mother had admonished Sher for her broad shoulders, her narrow hips, and wearing her brother’s hand-me-downs, as if these oddities sprang from Sher alone, and did not come from the loins of her parents, from her family, from the Creator.”
Stark, Chris. Carnival Lights (p. 195). Modern History Press. Kindle Edition.

8. Were you expecting Sher and Kris would meet different people and find different problems than they did? How were the things that happened to them in Minneapolis worse or better than what you thought? 

9. Why do you think they didn’t go home but remembered the good people and things that happened? Their memories helped them cope. Could they have gone home? 

10. The foreshadowing of the ending strongly suggested something terrible would happen. Did you expect what happened or not? How did close calls to people who seemed to think about helping them add to the plot’s tension? How was the ending both happy and sad? 

Why do you think Stark wrote this book? What was the overall message? 

Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
BS Elementary Education, MS Gifted Education, MA K-12 Curriculum and Instruction
Wise Owl Factory LLC

Beyond the Clouds
+3

Beyond the Clouds

978-1-61599-672-8
$24.95
An Autoethnographic Research Exploring Good Practice in Crisis Settings
In stock
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-672-8
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Author: Claudio Mochi
Illustrator: Isabella Cassina
Pages: 136
Publication Date: 07/01/2022

Beyond the Clouds explores the constituent elements of good practice in crisis work, providing theoretical foundations and practical tools in the context of a metaphorical journey through the clouds. Byinvestigating and sharing his own worldwide experience in crisis contexts developed over more than 20 years, the authorstimulates-through metaphors, anecdotes, and personal reflections--the reader's internal exploration.
Beyond the Clouds focuses on the conceptualization of crisis intervention as a co-constructed process, presents the innovative concept of MAP (My Awareness Process),contextualizes the role of the therapeutic power of play and play therapy in crisis settings, and underlines the relevance of symbols,writing, and metaphors in processing experiences and expanding self-knowledge and awareness. Readers will:

  • Explore the dimensions of good practice in crisis work, providing theoretical foundations and practical resources.
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  • Engage in conceptualizing crisis intervention as a process of co-construction specifying the role of professionals in the field.
  • Start developing the reader's own MAP as a personal guide in crisis work by undertaking a path of introspection.
  • Recognize and uphold the use of the therapeutic power of play and play therapy in crisis settings.
Beyond the Clouds is key reading for students and experienced professionals in the field of humanitarian work and international cooperation who wish to grasp the potential of play and play therapy in crisis contexts, as well as students and professionals from the world of play therapy and creative therapies who are interested in crisis work. Learn more at www.crisisplaytherapy.com (English) or www.play-therapy.ch (Italian)


"Beautifully blending science and theory, Mochi is a master storyteller who, with his vast experience, takes us on his personal journey working in crises intervention. In this highly accessible volume, enhanced by his use of metaphor and stories, Mochi outlines core dimensions of best practices in crisis intervention. A must read-I could not put it down!"
-- Sue C. Bratton, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S, Professor Emerita and Director Emerita, Center for Play Therapy, University of North Texas

"Beyond the Clouds is a beautiful gift, an inspiration, and a call to action. The premise of pausing long enough to process the reciprocity between those of us 0who want to be of service and those who are recipients is profound. Claudio is purposeful in his work, and he shares what he has learned 0with great generosity and humility. It transported me; I highly recommend it!"
-- Eliana Gil, Ph.D., Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery & Education, Fairfax, Virginia

From Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com

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