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46 pages 1 hour read

Cynthia Kadohata

Weedflower

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006

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Essay Topics

1.

How does Kadohata use Sumiko and Frank to teach the reader about cultural bias and stereotyping? What point does Kadohata make about stereotypes?

2.

What techniques does Kadohata use to incorporate historical facts into the novel?

3.

How do lists function within the novel?

4.

Who or what is the antagonist in the novel? Defend your answer with textual evidence and examples.

5.

How does Kadohata incorporate elements of both Japanese and Native American culture to educate readers?

6.

Compare and contrast Ichiro and Bull. How are these characters foils for one another?

7.

What lesson does Sumiko’s character impart about friendship? How does Kadohata emphasize the theme of friendship?

8.

Sumiko and Frank are young, yet both have experienced hardship and tragedy in their lives. How do these characters respond to hardship? What larger lesson or theme do their responses to difficulty point to?

9.

What overall message does Kadohata send about the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II? What does she show readers about the treatment of Japanese people in America following Pearl Harbor?

10.

Consider the novel’s title. How does Kadohata use the weedflower symbolically?

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