Wait ‘Till Next Year Discussion Questions

1. Like millions of Americans, Doris was caught up in the glory days of baseball in the 1950s, exhilarated by the Dodgers’ victories, and pained by each and every loss.  Individual players become her heroes, as well-loved and respected as family and friends.  How important is it for people- particularly children- to have such heroes to look up to?  How can we feel such a strong kinship to people we have never met?  Are sports figures the best role models?  What lessons can athletes teach us about life?

2. Doris’s parents each pass on their own special gifts to their daughter.  Through baseball, Mr. Kearns teacher Doris the importance of telling a story slowly, building the drama to a powerful crescendo.  Through reading, Mrs. Kearns demonstrates the beauty of a well-chosen word and how a good book can take you away to places you might otherwise never go.  Discuss how these gifts complement one another and how they came together to make Doris the historian and wordsmith she is today. 

3. In the 1950’s, most fathers did not take their little girls to baseball games.  How did you respond to the female point-of-view in this book?  Did you see Doris as the son her father never had?  Or was she an extension of his sister, Marguerite?  What does Mrs. Kearns’ relationship with Doris provide that he missed during this tragic childhood?

4. Although her childhood was marked by the untimely death of her mother, Doris paints a near-perfect picture of life in the suburbs.  How does time affect our memories?  Is it natural to “revise” our own personal history?  Are we destined to recall the best times of our lives as rosier than they actually were?

5. Idolizing her team as only a child can, Doris was fortunate enough to have her childhood coincide with baseball’s most glorious heyday. Discuss the sports’ changing role in the American landscape through the second half of the 20^th century.  Does regional team loyalty still mean the same thing in today’s “global village,” or has the technology that has made our country seem smaller altered the notion of the ”home team”?  What does baseball offer that other sports cannot?  Is it still our true national pastime?

6. One of the most pleasant aspects of reading a well-written memoir is that is often helps you recall dime memories of your own.  Did Wait Till Next Year spark any forgotten memories from your childhood? 

7. Prior to television, Doris listened to base ball games on the radio, relying on her imagination for visual images. To accompany the announcer’s play-by-play.  This changed when the Kearns’s bought their first television set and Doris was able to watch the game in her own home.  How did television change the face of baseball for fans?

8. When Doris’s sister, Jeanne is selected s co-captain of the “Blue Team” in a girls’ athletic competition, Doris is able to witness first-hand the unification that results from competition.  These types of events for women were rare in the 1950’s.  What does this say about the culture of the time?  How our society’s views on women’s athletics have have changed?  Have they changed enough?

9. How does Mrs. Kearns’s illness force Doris to grow up more quickly?  How dies it affect her childhood?

10. In many ways, the Kearns’s are a traditional, nuclear family of the 50’s. Yet, in many ways they are quite progressive, how is Doris different form the other girls on her block?

11. Doris pays tribute to many of her female teachers in school.  Many of these women rose to the top of their field during WWI.  And refused to “go back home” when the war was over.  Do you have any teachers who stand out in your mind as particularly inspiring?

12. Discuss important life lessons Doris learns through current events, such as the Civil Rights Movement, the trial and execution of the Rosenbergs, and the escalation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.  How does her interest in these events prepare her for her role as a historian?