The Real Education of TJ Crowley

The Real Education of TJ Crowley puts the themes of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in overdrive in an unflinching look at racism in the late 1960s. Fans of "The Secret Life of Bees" or "Whistling Past the Graveyard" will enjoy this story for our times.

Book club questions for The Real Education of TJ Crowley by Grant Overstake

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What, if anything, would be “fake” education? What does Overstake’s use of “real” underline/emphasize?

What does this epigraph by Maya Angelou lead you to expect from the novel? How/in what ways does it engage with the notion of “real education”?

The story is told entirely through the perspective of one character (TJ). Whose voice would you have liked to hear? What additional info might we learn from a different narrator? How might their recounting of a particular incident differ from TJ's? How might the reader’s experience with the novel be impacted if they were reading it through another character’s eyes? Why would the author choose TJ as his narrator instead of another character?

How/in what ways does family separation (TJ’s dad leaving the family, TJ’s brother leaving, the death of Ivy’s brother) shape each character?

In what ways do the characters’ world views change over the novel, and how does this relate to the actions and realities they are willing to accept or even embrace?

As one of the most dominant aspects of the novel, consider the myriad ways racism is enacted throughout by different characters. How do these beliefs work to unite and divide characters? How do they and their beliefs change throughout the novel? What main ideas and understandings about racism come from these experiences?

The idea of sports resonates throughout the novel, beginning with TJ’s dreams of joining the football team (a dream he is forced to give up), his experience meeting Leon, a character who is not only gifted at sports but also mirrors TJ’s frustration at his situation and his desire to be part of a team, and finally as they both find a place on the track team. What role does sports play in creating a sense of belonging for the characters throughout the text? Why and in what ways do sports provide a place for these characters? What does their participation in sports reveal about their characters and how they are changing?

What is your earliest experience dealing with discriminatory language?

What role do you think the police had in the story? For example: • Was Detective Harris relationship with TJ authentic in your mind? • How did he help shape TJ's worldview? • Should he have "closed the book" absolving TJ after the incident at the spillway that led to Uncle Ray's death? Why or why not? What was wrong or right about it? •Do historical injustices such as in TJ’s era play a role on race relations today? If so, how? If not, why not?

The Real Education of TJ Crowley Book Club Questions PDF

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"A remarkable book that takes on the choices faced by a young white teenager caught up in the racial maelstrom of desegregation in the American hinterland...Offers readers, particularly teens, a chance to think about some of the most important issues facing our society today. I heartily recommend it." -Mark Potok, former Senior Fellow, Southern Poverty Law Center "Set in an explosive moment in America's racial history, this coming-of-age story prompted me to consider my own moral courage...I was on the edge of my seat turning the pages and rooting for TJ as he navigated his young life with increasing clarity." - Debby Irving, author of Waking Up White "Raw, deliberate and honest...this book is about potential, about what happens when people are seen as people and not as a 'word.' Read it in a group and talk genuinely about history and its important connection to current society." - Margeurite Penick-Parks, co-editor of Everyday White People and A Guide for White Women Teaching Black Boys "A nostalgic and haunting work of fiction. Anyone who remembers the late 1960s will find the story warm and familiar and deeply unsettling...A window into a time and place that seems so distant and yet so familiar." - Jay M. Price, Ph.D., Director of the Local and Community History Program, Wichita State University "The perfect book...Will provide meaningful discussions in the classroom." - Jenna Chandler-Ward, Co-Founder of Teaching While White Selected in partnership with DartFrog Books.