Reading Group Guide
1. What prevents Lee from completing her dissertation? Why does she return home instead of getting a non-academic job and an apartment somewhere else?
2. Is Hieu the reason Tran and Ong Hai keep the family in the Midwest? Would Sam have engaged in delinquent behavior if he grew up in California, where he wasn’t such an obvious minority?
3. Does Tran’s favoritism ultimately help or hurt her children?
4. Is Lee denying her heritage by studying Edith Wharton instead of Asian American literature? What are the pros and cons of studying an author’s work from an outsider’s perspective?
5. Discuss some of the ways in which Lee uses food as a cultural metaphor. How can a desire for authenticity sometimes be an expression of racist stereotyping?
6. What is the nature of Lee’s relationship with Alex? How does it change over the course of the novel?
7. Are Lee’s thefts justified by the mystery she is attempting to solve? Since she can never definitively prove either that the pin belonged to Rose or that Rose put a child up for adoption, why is she so driven to learn the truth?
8. Is Greg better off for learning that he may be related to Rose Wilder? If you were in his position, would you want to know?
9. Do you share Lee’s love for the Little House stories? If so, what drew you to the books?
10. In what ways does Pioneer Girl affect your understanding of the Little House series?
11. What are some ways in which Lee’s experiences parallel Laura Ingalls Wilder’s? Does Lee ultimately have more in common with Laura or Rose?
12. If you’ve read Bich Minh Nguyen’s other books, what are some of the dominant themes in her work?
