Letter to My Daughter (Angelou)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Letter to My Daughter: 

First: you might start your discussion by having members write down the most important "lesson" or inspiration which they took from Angelou's book. Collect them, and read them out loud, one-by-one, (anonymously, or not) taking time for comments.

1. Which is your favorite episode in the book? The funniest? Which one did you come away from feeling inspired...or enlightened. Is there anything that seems unrealistic or impractical? Does the book offer to you, personally, life-changing wisdom?

2. Angelou says, at one point, "try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." What does she mean by that...and how might that apply to your own life?

3. In another passage, Angelou says, "Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude." How does one remain grateful in the face of difficult life events. And what precisely does she mean by gratitude?

4. Do you feel Agelou's book is sentimental or that it touches on deep human truths?

5. What does this book reveal about Angelou as a person? What aspects of her character do you most admire?

6. Angelou claims women of all cultures as her daughters. Do you think her wisdom and advice has relevance to women who live in vastly different cultures and whose circumstances are far more restrictive (due to geography, poverty, religious traditions) than those in Western societies?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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