Savvy - Discussion Questions

I was having a tough time thinking up discussion questions for Savvy - the I got to the end of the book and, snizzle-snazzle!, there are some discussion question right there!

• Describe Mibs and her unique family. Would you want to be part of the Beaumont clan or not? Why?
• Describe Mibs's relationship with her parents and siblings. How is it complicated by their savvies? Do you think the inheritance of a savvy is a curse or a blessing?
• Savvy is told in the first person; how would the story be different if someone besides Mibs were telling it? Do you think changing the point of view would make the story better or worse? Why?
• Why is Lill Kiteley's arrival such an important one for Lester? In what ways was she able to help him change and grow as a person? Predict what the future will be like for the couple.
•  How does Mibs's relationship with Will and Bobbi change over the course of the adventure? Who do you think changes the most in the story? Why?
• Momma warned Mibs that "you can't get rid of part of what makes you you and be happy." What can we infer from this statement? Do you agree with her? Provide some examples from the story to validate her point.
• Using the phrase "This is a story about..." supply five words to describe Savvy. Explain your choices.
• When Bobbi talks to Mibs about Will's obvious feelings for her, Mibs realizes that it "made me feel too young and too old at the same time." Why does she feel this way? Have you ever felt this way? How does Mibs deal with these feelings? How do you?
• Mibs considers, "Maybe it's like that for everyone, I thought. Maybe we all have other people's voices running higgledy-piggledy through our heads all the time....I began to realize how hard it was to separate out all the voices to hear the single, strong one that came from just me." What can readers infer about her statement?
• Mibs thinks, "Then I remembered what Lill had said just before falling asleep in the motel the night before. You can never tell when a bad thing might make a good thing happen. I realized that good and bad were always there and always mixed up in a tangle." In what ways is this statement an indicator of Mibs's growth?

To these questions I would add a couple of my own:

• Do you know someone who seems to have a savvy?
• Do you have a savvy? Can you share it? Do you know someone with a powerful savvy?
• What is the deal about "growing moss in pickle jars"?
• How "real" did the story feel to you? More or less real than "Treasure Island" or "The Brixton Brothers"?

December Book - Savvy by Ingrid Law

The December book club meeting will discuss Savvy by Ingrid Law.

Copies have been set aside for those who couldn't attend the November meeting. Just ask at the Information desk at the Louise Riley Library and a staff member will fetch a copy for you.

Happy Reading!

The Pirate Puzzle!

As we all know, math can be applied to real life situations. Even if you are a pirate.

The puzzle: Five smart, greedy and mean pirates find themselves on a boat with 100 gold coins. The pirates are ranked according to seniority, from 1 to 5, the most senior being ranked 1. Here is the deal: the most senior pirate must make a proposal for splitting the coins among the pirates, including herself (no fractional coins!). If her proposal has at least 50 percent acceptance (she votes, too), she is fine; otherwise, the other four pirates throw her into the shark-infested sea. The remaining pirates play the same game, starting with a proposal from the next most senior pirate, that is, the pirate ranked 2.

What should pirate No. 1 propose?

The original solution: she should propose giving one coin to the last and third pirate, and keeping the remaining 98 coins for herself.

The way to solve this puzzle is to start from 2 pirates and add one pirate at a time until there are 5 pirates.

Before moving on, let us clarify what we mean by smart, greedy and mean. Smart means that all pirates are able to deduce the logical consequences of any proposal. Greedy means that they want to maximize their earnings. Mean means that they will throw someone off the boat if means more gold for them.

Let us also change the seniority ranking, meaning that, from 1 to 5, 5 is the most senior and 1 the junior pirate.

Back to our two pirates, P1 and P2. In this case, P2 proposes 100 coins for herself and zero for P2, gets 1 vote (her own) and is safe. 

With 3 pirates we get to the core of this puzzle. P3 needs 2 votes, her own plus one. She can accomplish this by giving P1 a single coin and keeping the rest for herself. Why would P1 accept a single coin? Because the alternative is worse. If P1 votes against the plan (and P3 is tossed to the sharks) then there are only two pirates, and P1 gets nothing. So P3 proposes 99/0/1.

Moving to 4 pirates, we see the emerging pattern: by looking at the previous proposal, P4 can propose 99/0/1/0 and get two votes (her own plus the pirate getting the single coin).

For 5 pirates P5 will need 3 votes — her own plus 2. She therefore proposes 98/0/1/0/1.

Treasure Island: Soundtrack

There really is only one song in the book - Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest (Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum)

Original (?) Version
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum