Lucky Broken Girl

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: ‘Meet’ the Author, Ruth Behar

In this activity, get to know author Ruth Behar from her biography, other writings, and assorted resources. Then create a mock interview in which you compose original questions for the author, as well as her likely first-person responses.

• First, explore Ruth Behar’s website. Note how events from Behar’s own life informed and inspired Lucky Broken Girl, as described on her bio page, “About My Life and Work.”
• Read the “Author’s Note” at the end of the story to gain insight into how Lucky Broken Girl became a novel.
• Listen to a portion of this podcast in which the author discusses Lucky Broken Girl’s success and the impact of writing it on her life (Ms. Behar’s discussion of the novel picks up at 11:20; listen through her discussion about her family members, around 19:00).
• After exploring these resources, brainstorm a list of questions for the author. Your questions should strike a balance between biographical inquiries and questions about the novel.
• Avoid using the same questions as those available at the end of the website’s biography; strive for more involved questions than the ones that appear there.