A Girl Named Disaster (29 page)

Major sources are indicated with an asterisk. Sources of Nhamo’s stories are indicated with a dagger.

Altmann, Jeanne.
Baboon Mothers and Infants.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980.

^*†
Aschwanden, Herbert.
Karanga Mythology.
Translated by Ursula Cooper. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1989.

^*†
_____.
Symbols of Death.
Translated by Ursula Cooper. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1987.

^*†
_____.
Symbols of Life.
Translated by Ursula Cooper. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1982.

^*
Bourdillon, M. F. C.
The Shona Peoples.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1982.

Bozongwana, Reverend W.
Ndebele Religion and Customs.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1983.

Broadley, D. G., and E. V. Cook.
Snakes of Zimbabwe.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1993.

Chigwedere, A. S.
The Forgotten Heroes of Chimurenga.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Mercury Press, 1991.

Corfield, Timothy.
The Wilderness Guardian.
Nairobi, Kenya: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Appeal, 1984.

Dale, D.
Shona Mini-Companion.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1981.

^*
Daneel, M. L.
The God of the Matopos Hills.
The Hague and Paris: Mouton & Co., 1970.

^*
Drummond, R. B., and Coates Palgrave.
Common Trees of the Highveld.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Longman Rhodesia, 1973.

^*
Ellert, H.
The Material Culture of Zimbabwe.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1984.

^*
Estes, Richard Despard.
The Behavior Guide to African Mammals.
Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1992.

^*
Fortune, George.
Elements of Shona.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Longman Rhodesia, 1957.

Gelfand, Michael.
An African’s Religion.
Cape Town, South Africa: Juta & Company Ltd., 1966.

^*
_____.
Diet and Tradition in an African Culture.
Edinburgh and London: E & S Livingstone, 1971.

^*
_____.
The Genuine Shona.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1973.

^*†
_____.
Growing Up in Shona Society.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1979.

^*
_____.
The Spiritual Beliefs of the Shona.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1977.

^*
_____.
Witch Doctor.
New York and Washington, D. C.: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.

^*
Gelfand, Michael, S. Mavi, R. B. Drummond, and B. Ndemera.
The Traditional Medical Practitioner in Zimbabwe.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1985.

^*
Ginn, Peter.
Birds of the Highveld.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1972.

^*
Grainger, Colonel D. H.
Don’t Die in the Bundu.
Cape Town, South Africa: Howard Timmins, 1967.

Guy, Graham, Alan MacIsaac, P. Papadopoulo, and Dr. D. G. Broadley.
The Bundu Book of Mammals, Reptiles and Bees.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1972.

Hannon, M.
Standard Shona Dictionary.
Harare, Zimbabwe: College Press, 1987.

^*†
Hodza, A. C., comp.
Shona Folk Tales.
Translated by O. C. Chiromo. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1987.

^*†
_____.
Shona Praise Poetry.
Edited by George Fortune. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Hove, Masotsha M.
Confessions of a Wizard.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1985.

Jenkins, David, R. B. Drummond, S. Mavi, J. F. Ngoni, and R. Williams.
The Bundu Book of Trees, Flowers and Grasses.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1972.

^*
Jules-Rosette, Benetta.
African Apostles.
Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1975.

^*
Kenmuir, Dale, and Russell Williams.
Wild Mammals.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Longman Zimbabwe, 1985.

^*
Kileff, Cliff, and Peggy Kileff, eds.
Shona Customs: Essays by African Writers.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1992.

Lightfoot, Christopher.
Common Veld Grasses of Rhodesia.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Government Printer, 1975.

Minshull, Jacqueline, and Janet Duff.
Arachnids: A Classification.
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, 1993.

Munjanja, Amos M.
Everyday Shona and English.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Write and Read Publications, Literature Bureau, 1994.

Nelson, Harold D., ed.
Mozambique: A Country Study.
United States government publication, Department of the Army, 1985.

_____, ed.
South Africa: A Country Study.
United States government publication, Department of the Army, 1981.

_____, ed.
Zimbabwe: A Country Study.
United States government publication, Department of the Army, 1983.

^*
Plowes, D. C. H., and R. B. Drummond.
Wild Flowers of Rhodesia.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Longman Rhodesia, 1976.

^*
Reid-Daly, Ron.
Staying Alive.
Cape Town, South Africa: Ashanti Publishing Ltd., 1990.

Skaife, S. H.
African Insect Life.
Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Publishers Ltd., 1994.

Smuts, Barbara B.
Sex and Friendship in Baboons.
New York: Aldine Publishing Company, 1985.

Stein, David Martin.
The Sociobiology of Infant and Adult Male Baboons.
Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1984.

^*
Steyn, Peter.
Wankie Birds.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Longman Rhodesia, 1974.

^†
Stockil, C., and M. Dalton.
Shangani Folk Tales.
Volumes I and II. Harare, Zimbabwe: The Literature Bureau, 1987.

^*
Stuart, Chris, and Tilde Stuart.
A Field Guide to the Tracks and Signs of Southern and East African Wildlife.
Harare, Zimbabwe: Tutorial Press, 1994.

Swaney, Deanna, and Myra Shackley.
Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia.
Hawthorn, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 1992.

^*
Tredgold, Margaret H., in collaboration with H. M. Biegel, S. Mavi, and Dr. Hugh Ashton.
Food Plants of Zimbabwe.
Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1986.

Viewing, Dr. K. A., J. W. Sweeney, and P. S. Garlake.
The Bundu Book of Geology, Gemology and Archaeology.
Salisbury, Rhodesia: Longman Rhodesia, 1968.

Use these questions and activities that follow to get more out of the experience of reading
A Girl Named Disaster
by Nancy Farmer.

1. Why is Nhamo particularly afraid of leopards?
   
2. What happens in Nhamo’s village that causes them to visit the
   muvuki?
   
3. What circumstances lead to Nhamo fleeing to Zimbabwe? What does she expect to find there?
   
4. The
   muvuki
   knows everything about Nhamo’s village, which makes his magic seem very powerful. How else could he have learned the history and names of the people in the village?
   
5. Why might Aunt Chipo want Nhamo to be sent away? What evidence can you find that she dislikes Nhamo? Do you think Aunt Chipo was really possessed?
   
6. Choose one of the stories that Nhamo tells and explain how it relates to the situation that Nhamo is in at the time and how it demonstrates or affects Nhamo’s feelings about the situation.
   
7. Through most of her journey, Nhamo talks to spirits such as Crocodile Guts. How do the spirits help her? Discuss how they help her survive, both directly and indirectly.
   
8. How does being on her own affect Nhamo’s behavior? Choose three things that she does that she wouldn’t have done if she had stayed in the village. Would she have done them if she had a human companion?
   
9. Compare how Nhamo feels about the
   njuzu
   when she first encounters them and then at the end of her journey. Has her opinion changed? Find evidence to support your answer.
   
10. Why does Nhamo spend so long on the second island? Do you think she would have left earlier or later if the baboons hadn’t been there? What if Rumpy hadn’t been part of the troop?
    
11. Why are the people Nhamo first encounters after she reaches land suspicious of her? Imagine you encountered a person who looked and acted like Nhamo did today. Would you trust that person?
    
12. Do you think Long Teats possessed Nhamo? What evidence can you find to support or refute Nhamo’s conviction that she was possessed? What circumstances brought about Long Teats’s possessing Nhamo?
    
13. What about Dr. Masuku makes Nhamo call her “Mother”? Do you think that Nhamo really believes Dr. Masuku is her mother? Explain why. Is there a connection between what Nhamo calls Dr. Masuku and how much Nhamo believes that she is her mother?
    
14. Why does Nhamo choose to tell some people about her interactions with the spirits and not others? Select one negative and positive thing that happens as a result of her talking about the spirits. Discuss how you think it affected Nhamo’s behavior in the book and if you think it will continue to guide her in the future.
    

Note: The literature circle questions are keyed to Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge: 1-3; Comprehension: 4-5; Application: 6-7; Analysis: 8-9; Synthesis: 10-11; Evaluation: 12-14.

1. Create a timeline of major events in Nhamo’s life, including events that happened before the book began and where she was at the time. Project the timeline into Nhamo’s future. With your class, discuss with your ideas about Nhamo’s future.
   
2. Illustrate one of the many colorful places that Nhamo saw or visited on her travels, including its inhabitants.
   
3. Make up a folktale or story—like Nhamo did throughout the novel—to explain some aspect of your own daily life, your local culture, or human relationships.
   

Copyright © 1996 by Nancy Farmer

Preface copyright © 2003 by Nancy Farmer

Cover illustrations copyright © 2003 by Bryan Collier

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

ISBN 0-531-09539-8 (Hardcover);

0-439-47144-3 (Orchard Classics, Paper Over Board)

First Orchard Classics edition, April 2003

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