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The Kudzu Queen
Fifteen-year-old Mattie Lee Watson dreams of men, not boys. So when James T. Cullowee, the Kudzu King, arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu—claiming that it will improve the soil, feed cattle at almost no cost, even cure headaches—Mattie is ready. Mr. Cullowee is determined to sell the entire county on the future of kudzu, and organizes a kudzu festival, complete with a beauty pageant. Mattie is determined to be crowned Kudzu Queen and capture the attentions of the Kudzu King. As she learns more about Cullowee, however, she discovers that he, like the kudzu he promotes, has a dark and predatory side. When she finds she is not the only one threatened, she devises a plan to bring him down. Based on historical facts, The Kudzu Queen unravels a tangle of sexuality, power, race, and kudzu through the voice of an irresistibly delightful (and mostly honest) narrator.
These book club questions are from the author's website.
Book club questions for The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
Mattie has been compared to Scout from the classic To Kill a Mockingbird—what characteristics do Mattie and Scout have in common? How are they different?
The Kudzu Queen raises questions of race, class, gender roles, sexuality, and power. How did the events in the book cause you to examine your own assumptions?
Did you feel that Mattie was in danger at any point in your reading? What about Lynnette or Rose?
Why is Mattie the right narrator for this story? How would the story be different if told from the point of view of a different character? (Lynnette, Danny, Glynis, etc.)
Which characters in The Kudzu Queen drew you in? Who was the most relatable and why?
The Kudzu Queen explains why and how kudzu came to populate highways and byways in the region. What sort of research do you imagine the author did?
What did you notice about the time period and setting of the novel? What’s changed and what has remained the same?
The Kudzu Queen Book Club Questions PDF
Click here for a printable PDF of the The Kudzu Queen discussion questions