A little to consider to before tonight...
1. How does this book come across to you? What does Sue Klebold say her motivation was in writing A Mother's Reckoning? Does she fulfill her goal?
2. "A mother is supposed to know," Klebold has said. To what extent is she right? How much are parents supposed to know? How much can they be expected to know? If children are aware that their parents routinely search their rooms, won't they simply find better hiding places?
3. Talk about the trajectory of Dylan Klebold from Sue's "sunshine boy" to troubled, deadly killer. Was there any point when the Klebolds might have stepped in, where they might have—or should have—recognized something was amiss with Dylan, something seriously amiss?
4. How much sympathy do you accord to Sue and Tom Klebold? Has your attitude toward them changed after reading this book? Were any myths about the Klebolds dispelled, or misunderstandings clarified?
5. Should A Mother's Reckoning have been written? Should it have come out before this time? Or never at all?
6. Can you put yourself in Sue and Tom Klebold's place? Or is that simply to hard to contemplate?
7. School bullying has always been an troublesome element of childhood and adolescence. How has Columbine changed society's attitude toward bullying? What are the ways in which we're dealing with bullying? Are they effective?
8. What were the differences, according to Klebold, between her son Dylan and Eric Harris?
See you later,
Irene
