For Teachers: FAT TUESDAY

READING GROUP GUIDE AND ACTIVITIES
Fat Tuesday
by Susan Vaught

Rusty Quinn battles every day to save her own sanity in the face of grief, abuse, and her mother’s ever-deepening madness. School and her friends offer the only escape, but everything is getting weird on those fronts, too. Her friend Lou is absorbed with a handsome new exchange student, and her friend Daniel, well, his life spins out of control faster than a spring tornado. When Rusty’s mother finally crosses the line, and when her friends’ lives explode in ways she can barely imagine, she faces major choices—and serious danger.

Susan Vaught provides a suspenseful, exciting tale a young survivor determined to carve out her own life, fend off her family’s craziness, and take the mother of all road trips to one single, gleaming destination: herself.

FAT TUESDAY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

1.         The teens in Fat Tuesday are writing a soap opera. Discuss how this fictional
            world mirrors their own.

2.         Have you ever watched a soap opera? Which one? Why?

3.         Daytime television has remained staunchly popular for many decades. Why do
            you think so many people still watch daytime melodramas? What makes soaps
melodramatic instead of dramatic?

Related Activity: Create a fictional character who would be a good addition to a soap opera. Write a brief biography.

4.         In the earlier parts of Fat Tuesday, Rusty hears voices. Do you believe these
voices are hallucinations? Why, or why not?

5.         Why is Daniel hospitalized?

6.         If one of your friends threatened his/her own life, what steps would you take?
            Why?

7.         List all the reasons, in your opinion, Rusty makes her decision to run away to
            Mardi Gras. If you ran away from your own life, where would you go? Why?

8.         Did Rusty, Lou, and Stonn make the right decision when they broke Daniel out of
            the hospital? Explain your opinion.

Related Activity: Rewrite the breakout chapter from Daniel’s point of view. Was he relieved? Distressed? Angry? How do you think he felt?

9.         At Sardis Lake, what did Rusty realize she has in common with her mother? How
            do you think this affected Rusty?

10.       Rusty elects not to tell Lou some of her most intimate thoughts and decisions
about herself, which puts their friendship in jeopardy. What do you think about
keeping secrets from friends? What are some of the differences between secrets
and privacy?

11.       Do friends have to agree on everything? What are some situations where friends
            might have different values? What are some ways you would you handle those
            differences?

Related Activity: Ask a parent or older sibling about a close friendship in their past that they chose to end—and a close friendship they fought to keep. What were their reasons for ending a friendship? For keeping a friendship?

12.       Mardi Gras is a frenetic, chaotic celebration with thousands of people flowing
            through only a few streets. How do you think such an atmosphere affects your
            perceptions? Your decision-making?

Related Activity: List some of Rusty’s decisions in New Orleans. How might these decisions have been different if she had made them in a calm, peaceful environment?

13.       In your opinion, is Lou’s father a villain? Why—or why not? What about Rusty’s
mother? Panda?

Related Activity: Choose one scene in Fat Tuesday and rewrite it from a villain’s point of view.

14.       Ultimately, Rusty chooses to return to her home, and to provide care and support
            to her mother. Why do you think she makes this choice? What is your opinion
            about this decision?


For more information on Susan Vaught and Fat Tuesday, visit www.susanvaught.com or www.onstagepublishing.com.


Fat Tuesday by Susan Vaught
published by OnStage Publishing 2004