Okay For Now

1.      If Doug in on a quest, what is he questing for?

Normalcy, stability, independent (separate from his family/stereotypes)

Once everything starts going well, it all falls apart – Doug wasn't actively searching for happiness

-        Maybe didn’t understand that happiness existed

2.      Each of the chapters is about a  bird shown in one of Audubon’s plates.  How are these birds connected to what Doug is going through in his life?

Stupid puffins - He felt like a chump

He made the connections between the paintings and his life

You can’t paint every feather in life

Things are never as they appear – don’t judge (gym teacher, war shocked brother, father)

3.      The year of the novel is 1968-1969.  What similarities do you see to our own time, when we are once again at war?

The way soldiers are viewed (they should just come home and jump back to normal life)

If you can’t hack it in college, just join the military.  Military personnel don't get the respect that they deserve.

Handicap awareness has certainly changed, as have equal opportunity laws

People don’t view handicaps and being incompetence

4.      Lil calls Doug a skinny thug when she meets him.  How does her attitude toward Doug change?  Who else has an attitude change about Doug?  Why?

Lil fell in love with Doug

Everyone changed as they got to know him (except for Mr. Ferris, art teacher who viewed him fairly from the beginning)

Doug had many attitude changes, which were formed as he gets to know the people around him.  This is viewed especially well in his attitude toward the gym teacher after Doug learns about his Vietnam war service.

War-shocked brother.  Our attitude toward him changes as we learn more of his pain.  His attitude towards others changes as he accepts his loss instead of fighting against it.

Christopher (the other brother whose name we don’t learn until the end)

               -Doug realized why he was acting the way that he was

Doug changed his perspective about the whole "dumb" town

Neighbors judged Doug based on what they thought Christopher had done

5.      Why does Mr. Ferris think the moon landing is so important?  Is it?  Would Mr. Ferris say we should be heading to the moon again?  Why?

Science teacher and it was the biggest achievement of the time

Something about space exploration makes us feel proud

We can see both sides of the coin.  Should we continue funneling so much money into the space exploration program when that money could be used to do so much good here on earth?

6.      There are some very funny and light parts in Okay for Now; there are also some very sad, serious parts.  Would you call Okay for Now a hopeful book or a hopeless one?  Why?

Polyanna ending (Broadway play part, brother's attitudes are miraculously fixed)

It's a bit like Forrest Gump for teenagers, but you want teens to continue to believe in hope and keep hanging in there!

The message of "There’s good out there – go find it" is repeated over and over again

Doug’s home life could have buried him if he had allowed it

All things can work together for our good (D&C 122)

Everything will eventually work out

Dad changing was a little over the top (Or was it?  We didn’t see anything after the initial change.  He could have derailed again.)

Resiliency theory – if the kid can find one really positive connection, it can help pull them out

               -can work in reverse

               -art teacher/science teacher/Lil were the positive connections for Doug

               -we should strive to be the positive connection

HOPEFUL OVERALL  - “Okay for now,” not okay forever

Words have power, especially over the youth

7.      When Christopher takes the hat Joe Pepitone gave Doug, Doug’s father is no help when Doug tries to talk to him.  “It was a wrong day.  Most days are wrong days,” Doug says.  What do you think he means?

Wrong day to talk to his dad.  We all believe that Doug was physically abused.

We all have those moments but those, for us, are the exception.  With the dad it was the rule

Alcohol seemed to pull the dad down.  Was he always like that?

8.      Describe Doug’s relationship with each of his brothers.  How are the brothers alike?  How are they different?  How does Doug’s relationship with each change with the progression of the book?

Looked up to/hero worshipped Lucus

Doug had a friendly relationship with war brother before war

Had a confrontational relationship with Christopher.  Competed with each other

Did Christopher deflect negative feelings onto Doug?  Throw him under the bus?  Was he trying to shift the dad's focus from himself onto Doug?

Progressed:

Doug went from worshipping Lucus to having more of a peer relationship

Brothers all worked together to help each other when dad was such a flake.  They became the adults that their father wasn't.

9.      Mr. Spicer says to Doug, “I pay salary every other Saturday,” and Doug responds, “Okay.  That’s fine.”  Then in the narrative Doug says, “I know.  I’m a chump.”  Why is he a chump?  Give examples of times when Doug feels like a chump.

Felt like a chump every time things didn’t go quite his way

Abused himself the same way that he was abused by his father

You believe what you hear – especially when it comes from an authority figure.  Words have power to heal or to cause a tremendous amount of hurt.

GENERAL NOTES:
We really liked the author’s voice.  He really captured the character beautifully!  We could really believe that he was a teenage boy growing up in New York during the Vietnam era.

We love that the book incorporated a lot of art (music, art, Jane Eyre)

Our take on the overall theme: Things are not always what they seem.