Story of A Girl Intro and Questions

Over the summer, I read a great teen book called Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr. This book was really inspirational, and it taught me a lot of life lessons. Here are my questions...

QUESTIONS:

The Book:

1. The main character in Story of a Girl is Deanna Lambert. Deanna is a very tough but lonely girl who has a very bad reputation and only two friends because a mistake she made as a thirteen year old, giving her the title “the school slut.” Deanna is a tough, lonely, and sad girl. She made a very bad decision that left her with very few friends, her dad not even looking at her, and a life of regret.

2. In the beginning of the novel, the author explains Deanna’s horrible situation that had happened years before and everything that has happened to her, socially and at home, since. She tells you about Deanna being with a much older man, Tommy Webber, for a while, and then finally being caught by her dad when she was only sixteen. In the middle of the novel, Deanna tries to get a job, so she could move out of her parent’s house with her brother, his girlfriend, and their baby. When she got a job at a local pizza parlor, she finds out that Tommy Weber works there too. At the end of the novel, Deanna starts showing her emotions and talks about everything she has been feeling about Tommy and her dad since that one day three years ago her dad caught her with Tommy. After that, she felt like a new girl with a better outlook on life, and her father is beginning to forgive her and start talking to her again.

3.  I think that what Sara Zarr is trying to say about life in Story of a Girl is that you make so many mistakes when you are living, but when you finally forgive yourself and you learn from your mistakes, you become a better person and your mistake is forgotten.

The Issues:

1. One issue in Story of a Girl was the biggest issue in the whole book. That was when Deanna was thirteen years old and was with Tommy Webber in the back of his Buick, and they were caught by Deanna’s dad. This affected three characters in this book, Deanna, Tommy, and Deanna’s dad. Deanna is affected because this issue got around the whole town, and everyone judged her and her father was so disappointed at her that he wouldn’t even look at her. Tommy was affected because he was really good friends with Deanna’s brother, and after that, her brother hated him. Deanna’s dad was affected because he caught the two of them, and he couldn’t think of Deanna in the same way ever again.

2. The social issues in this book are strained family life and isolation. The two events that make theses issues seem real is when Deanna is caught with Tommy in the back of this car at thirteen, and the second one is Deanna’s brother had a child at a very young age. Sara Zarr made the issues seem personal because this kind of stuff could happen to anyone, including myself and my family.