Selection for Adults

Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing.

It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots.

Patchett uses the language and pathos of music to explore the unexpected relationships that bloom between jungle-born revolutionaries and their sophisticated international hostages.  Based on the 1996 Tupac Amaru takeover of the Japanese ambassadorial residence in Lima, Peru, Patchett's lyrical new novel draws its thematic intensity and underlying grace from the resplendent art of opera. As she has done in her previous books, she contemplates our remarkable capacity to form emotional connections in unlikely and tenuous ways.

About the author

Ann Patchett is the author of three previous novels. The Patron Saint of Liars was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Taft won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. And The Magician's Assistant earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1994.

Patchett attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she took writing classes with Alan Gurganus, Russell Banks, and Grace Paley. She went on to attend the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, and in 1990 won a residential fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Here she wrote her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, which was awarded a James A. Michner/Copernicus Award for a book in progress.

The Patron Saint of Liars was adapted as a TV movie for CBS in 1997, and Patchett wrote the screenplay for Taft, which has been optioned by Morgan Freeman for a feature film.  Patchett lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award
• Winner of the Orange Prize
• New York Times Best Seller
• National Book Critics Circle Semi-Finalist

Bel Canto Discussion Questions

Courtesy of the Log Cabin Literary Center
1. Why does music, and especially opera, become so important to the characters in the book?

2. What role does religion play in the story?

3. Is Mr. Hosokawa to blame for the hostage’s situation? If not, who do you think is ultimately responsible?

4. Compare the love of Gen and Carmen with that of Roxane and Mr. Hosokawa. What are the elements that define each relationship?

5. What do you think of the novel's ending? Did it surprise you?

6. On page 197, it says "One would have thought that with so much rain and so little light the forward march of growth would have been suspended, when in fact everything had thrived.” How does this observation mirror what is happening inside the mansion?

7. Do any of them really want the experience to end? Why or why not?

8. Do you think Mr. Hosokawa wanted to die? Do you think he would rather have died than live life without Roxane?

9. The story is told by a narrator who is looking back and recounting the events that took place. What do you think of this technique?

Selection for Children

Among the Hidden
by Margaret Peterson Haddix

What would life be like if you could never leave your home or see anyone outside of your immediate family? Among the Hidden tells the story of twelve-year-old Luke, the hidden third child in a time when having more than two children is illegal.

Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. As he discovers other hidden children, he learns that openly expressing opinions can lead to tragedy. Set in a future of scarcity, famine and totalitarian government, the book explores issues such as human rights, freedom of expression, and the ability of one young person to make a difference.

About the author

Margaret Peterson Haddix is the best-selling author of many books for children and teens. Her books for young readers include Running Out of Time, Among the Hidden, Among the Impostors, Among the Betrayed, and The Girl with 500 Middle Names.
Her work has been honored by the International Reading Association Children's Book Award, American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers citations, as well as several state Readers' Choice Awards. Haddix lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio.

• American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Among the Hidden Discussion Questions

1. When and where do you think Among the Hidden takes place?

2. Why is Luke's family terrified of the government? How does the government make ordinary families feel powerless?

3. Does Luke have more in common with Jen or with his own family? Why ?

4. Jen and Luke used the Internet to connect with other hidden children. Do you use the Internet to connect with people who share interests with you?

5. Why did Jen organize the march on the president's house? Do you think she knew she was going to die? What would you have done if you had been Luke?

6. Jen’s stepfather is a member of the Population Police. Is he a hero or a villain in the story? Why do you think he risked his life to help Luke?

7. The last time Luke saw Jen, he said, "It's people like you who change history. People like me – we just let things happen to us." Do you think this is true?

8. Among the Hidden is fiction, but in China, there is a law that strictly limits family size. Why might a country do this? Do you think this is a reasonable policy?