Yum!


What to serve at your Mango Rash​ book discussion

Tropical fruit skewers
Banana bread
Breadfruit chips with mango guacamole
Black bean-mango salad
Griddled banana, mango, and jalapeno sandwiches
Mango-ginger parfaits
Mango-macadamia crisp
Coconut ice cream
Cadbury Caramello candy bars
Hibiscus tea
Koko Samoa
​Orange mango sangria
Orange Fanta!

Chew on these

Discussion questions​
  • Looking back on your own life, what one year stands out most clearly? What makes it so memorable? Why do you think the year of 1965-1966 was so memorable for Nancy?
  • How is the Samoan concept of aiga similar to or different from your own idea of family? Do Nancy’s feelings about family change during her time in Samoa?
  • What themes run through Mango Rash? How does the author develop these themes?
  • What’s the biggest move you’ve ever made, either in terms of distance or in terms of life changes? In what ways did that move affect you?
  • How did the modernization program affect American Samoa in the 1960s? Do you see the effects as positive, negative, or a combination of both?
  • Author James Gleick has said, “Authorship is a solitary business, always coming down to a writer and a blank page, but inevitably it becomes a social act as well, because the book is inextricably part of the world. It finds readers, it begins a conversation, it tells a kind of truth that can't be told in any other way--or else it fails to do that.” What conversations might Mango Rash start?
  • Like many young people, Nancy searches for models to emulate. What qualities does she look for, and why does she consider them important? Do you think she chooses well?
  • How does Nancy's encounter with Ati change her view of Samoans?
  • Mango Rash is nonfiction, but the author uses many techniques of fiction writing. What does the “narrative voice” she uses tell you about the main character? Does that voice change over the course of the book?
  • How does the author develop characters? Who is your favorite character in Mango Rash? Why? Who is your least favorite? Why?
  • What does the Samoan concept of malosi come to mean to Nancy? 

Dress-up

No puletasi​? No problem! Anything tropical will do

Shell or seed jewelry
Floral prints
Flower wreaths and garlands
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