Reading Group Guide

Home Published Shorter Works This Is the Place Harkening Tracings & Other Poetry The Frugal Editor Great Book Proposal The Frugal Book Promoter This Is the Place Author Appearances

 

Find  Carolyn's Individual Books and Audios Here:

Frugal Book Promoter
Frugal Editor
Great Book Proposals
This Is the Place, A Novel
Harkening (Short Stories)
Tracings and Other Poetry
Published Shorter Works
Audio Handbooks for Writers

You will find at least one promotion, writing or tech tip on every page on this site. Sometimes you'll find, two or three! Happy browsing and collecting!

What Utah Authors Are Saying:

“[This Is the Place] instills the conflicts of Mormonism so gracefully and incisively...” ~ James W. Ure, author of Leaving the Fold

“It's been a week … and still the characters fight for attention in my thoughts.” ~ Warren Stucki, author of Boy’s Pond

 

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Multi award-winning Shadow of Doubt by Linda Morelli.  Cat Madoc returns to her family home on the jutting headlands of California’s Mendocino Coast to prove her sister's death was murder. There she meets a neighbor, Tom Driscoll, whose brooding dark looks stir Cat's desires—until he becomes the number one suspect in her sister's death. It was a 2003 Laurel Wreath award winner. Romantic Suspense. ISBN 0-9716239-9-6

 

 

 

 A Reading Group Guide for This Is the Place

Carolyn Howard-Johnson often permits educators to use excerpts from her work at with no royalties owed. She asks that proper credits, order information and this reading guide be included with handouts or online assignments. Although is was published in 2001, it is still available on Amazon.com, both new and used, and may be ordered from Barnes and Noble and other bookstores.

Click Here for Carolyn Howard-Johnson's essays related to tolerance, peace, Utah and more.

Click here for Carolyn's first person essay, "Beating Time at Its Own Game."

Click here to go back to the  This Is the Place page.

Click here to see an excerpt from This Is the Place.

 

Study Guide for the Multiple Award-Winning Novel

This Is the Place

ISBN: 1588513521  Publisher: AmErica House

 

“When you live amid beauty sometimes you don’t recognize discrimination, and, if you do, you prefer not to acknowledge it.” ~Quotation from This Is the Place

 

 

Study Guide:

According to JayCe Crawford, author of The Pope and the Rainbow Sprinkles, Carolyn Howard-Johnson's This Is the Place is a "story that rings heartbreakingly true." A young journalist realizes that because she is half Mormon and half Protestant she is not suitable material for love. She delves into her Mormon heritage and journals her way through prejudice indo redemption. She learns to mend her own life when she finds she cannot mend her world. This novel, set in Salt Lake City in the 50s, reveals not only complexities of the heart but the secrets of what some consider a mysterious place and culture including a take on its place in western history.

Questions:

  1. What do you think of the title, This Is the Place? Do you find a metaphor in it or does it simply refer to the Salt Lake Valley? When pioneer Brigham Young uttered those words, do you think that he meant only that this was the ground on which he would settle his people or do you think he had something else in mind? What you you think would be the differences between what Brigham Young said and meant and the way the author uses the very same words? What are the similarities?

  2. Skylar Eccles is surprise to find that four generations of women -- her own ancestors -- made decisions very similar to the one she is about to make. How does the meat -and-bones study of genealogy differ from the work that Skylar undertakes? How is it similar? If you went back into your own family tree, what do you think you would find about yourself hiding in its branches?

  3. The protagonist of this story makes some decisions that were uncommon for her time. Find some of the political and cultural differences between the 50s when she was struggling to find herself and now. How do you think your life would be different if you had encountered comparable difficulties? Do women still face similar problems?

  4. We have all experienced intolerance in our lives. How do Skylar's experiences differ from what you have seen or felt? How are they similar?

  5. Utah is a viable character in this novel and Skylar's love of it is palpable. Did you find it a place you'd like to to visit? Why or why not? If you live in Utah, were Sky's surroundings similar to what you see in your daily life? Different?

  6. Skylar learns through writing but at first she cannot consciously come to terms with the lessons she is searching for. Do you think that journaling works that way? How do you think Sky's writing affects her life, her decisions? Has journaling been a learning experience in your life? Do you think it could be?

  7. We find recurring objects in This Is the Place -- quilts, the implements of sewing, mountains, irises. Is this accidental? Do you think it was intended by the author or came from her subconscious? Which ones did you notice as you were reading? What do you think they signify?

 

Learn More Here:

Click here for reviews of This Is the Place, complete with permission to reprint.

Click here for an excerpt of This Is the Place.

Click here for a near-instant copy of the prologue to This Is the Place in your e-mail box.

Click here for a growing list of links for books about tolerance.




 

 

Tip

Carolyn Howard-Johnson teamed with fellow editors, Pat McGrath Avery and Joyce Faulkner, to publish the Complete Writer's Journal, a journal suitable for sketching and scribbling as well as the taking-of-notes and journaling. It includes funny and inspirational saying from 100 writers and others involved in the publishing world including a young girl who wants to grow up to be a writer.  It is published by Red Engine Press.

 Find at least one tip on writing, promotion or tech on every page of this website. 

  

Mini Biography for Carolyn Howard-Johnson

(Searching for something more complete? Check out the media room on this site and/or download one of the complete media kits.)

Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel, This Is the Place, won eight awards. Her second book, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, creative nonfiction, won three. An instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program, her book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t is recommended reading for her classes, was named USA Book News’ “Best Professional Book 2004," and was given the Irwin Award. Her second book in the How To Do It Frugally series is The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her chapbook of poetry Tracings, was named to the Compulsive Reader's Ten Best Reads list and was given the Military Writers' Society of America's Silver Award of Excellence. She is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community's Character and Ethics Committee awarded her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly's list of 14 "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen." Her website is www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.

 

 

 

 

Purchase THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER as a thick, full-size e-book priced to accommodate the budgets of starving students and authors at Star Publish.

Purchase THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER and THE FRUGAL EDITOR in trade paperback at Amazon. The Amazon Short, THE GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION BOOK PROPOSAL, too!

Purchase THIS IS THE PLACE, HARKENING and TRACINGS at Amazon.

Purchase CHERISHED PULSE at the Compulsive Reader.

Purchase and find all the audios for writers at Double Dragon Publishing.

 

Authors' Coalition http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com"Careers that are not fed die as readily as any living organism given no sustenance." ~ Carolyn Howard-Johnson

 

 

 

This author is founder and a proud member of Authors' Coalition.    

(Directors: Joyce Faulkner and Pat Avery)

This site is powered by Dianna Faulkner, carmelfaulkner@aol.com

Studio photography by Uriah Carr

Logo by Lloyd King

 

   Future Plans for How To Do It Frugally Series: 

  • The Frugal Amazon  Promoter

  • The Frugal Retailer Promotes

  • The Frugal Author Builds an Agent-Friendly Package   

 

Important Resources

Book Proposal Help

Former book acquisitions editor Terry Whalin says, "editors and publishers don't read manuscripts. They read book proposals. In Book Proposals That Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success, you learn the inside scoop to achieve your dreams." I highly recommend it.


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Promotion Services

You'll find direction in the Frugal Book Promoter for building your own media kit; if you choose not to build your own, the information there will make you a better partner for a publicist you might hire to help you. I recommend PressKit 24/7, the brainchild of publicists with over forty years' experience. We know the speed at which you need to work, and we know what it takes to get the media's attention. It was critical for us to be able to create professional online press kits for our own clients. So we understand what you need for yours.

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Learn more about the classes offered by UCLA Extension Writers' Program, You'll find Carolyn Howard-Johnson's instructor page there, too.

 

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Books and Audios on Writing Carolyn has Written,   Edited or Contributed to: 

   


 

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Copyright ©2006 Carolyn Howard-Johnson

 

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