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

My Grief Is Like the Ocean

978-1-61599-686-5
$16.95
A Story for Children Who Lost a Parent to Suicide
In stock
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-686-5
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Audiobook: Audible, iTunes
Edition: 1st
Author: Jessica Biles & Jillian Kelly-Wavering
Illustrator: Jessica Biles
Pages: 30
Publication Date: 09/01/2022

The death of a parent is heartbreaking, but the issues surrounding suicide can be even more devastating. My Grief is Like the Ocean was written by mental health professionals who wanted to support caregivers during incredibly difficult conversations with children. Using the latest research and clinical guidance, and told from the perspective of a boy who lost his father to suicide, this book will help children to feel supported. When caregivers and children read this book together, they will gain a valuable resource for engaging in honest, informative and heartfelt discussions to help families heal. This book will:

  • Help children and caregivers talk about their grief experiences
  • Normalize and encourage the many emotions a child may feel after a loss due to suicide
  • Promote important dialogue and concrete ways to seek help for mental illness
  • Provide caregivers with ideas for developmentally appropriate coping skills
  • Offer additional resources caregivers can access for further support

"This is the one book all parents and clinicians need to have in their personal library. Adults now have a tool to help children navigate the difficult emotions of abandonment, betrayal, rage, and anger that often bubble up after the suicide of a loved one, but are often suppressed and left unspoken." -- Athena A. Drewes, PsyD, RPT-S, founder and president emeritus, New York Association of Play Therapy, past director of the Association for Play Therapy

"My Grief is Like the Ocean tackles the seldom discussed, emotionally wrenching and very difficult concept of suicide in a way that children can understand...delicately using the metaphor of the ocean to describe how its shifting waves mirror the boy's feelings. The explanations are concise. The opportunity for a child to acknowledge their feelings is boundless." -- Laurie Zelinger, Ph.D., ABPP, RPT-S, board-certified psychologist, author of Please Explain Anxiety to Me

"This book is important and much needed, since the death of a parent by suicide is one of the most complicated and devastating forms of childhood grief. I found the book to be brilliant and written with the foundation of great sensitivity and compassion. I also loved the eloquent use of metaphors throughout. Highly recommended!" -- David A. Crenshaw, Ph.D., ABPP, author, board-certified clinical psychologist

"My Grief is Like the Ocean addresses the complex and conflicting feelings survivors have when they have lost a loved one to suicide. It is a must-have resource for all therapists that work with children and youth, as well as the surviving family members who may need direction regarding how to support their children as they experience this unique form of grief and loss." -- Theresa Fraser, CYC-P, CPT-S, MA, RP, RCT, CT, trauma, loss, and attachment clinical specialist

Learn more at MyGriefisLiketheOcean.com

From Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com

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