by Shirley Mowat Tucker
Reader’s Study Guide for Shirley Tucker’s Diamonds in the Dust
The book has a ready to go study guide that you can use for your book, club, church group, book of the month club, or local library reading list. Or, obviously, an individual may enjoy a guided tour into the ‘nooks and crannies’ of Shirl’s book. You can download it here:
DITDBookClubStudyGuide (19.2 KiB, 113 hits)
(Note to book club leaders: get up to 35% off when buying Diamonds in the Dust in bulk!)
A note by DJ Thompson of Athanatos Christian Ministries, the author of the reader’s guide:
One of the marks of a good story is the number of times it touches upon reality and truth. For Christians this means that a good book has as its most interior structure a close association to the truth as we know it in the Bible. Books with Christianity as the skeleton and muscles and the blood that run through them often touch upon truth in deeply profound ways that are missing in books with a Christian skin. A good book also rewards close scrutiny. Diamonds in the Dust is by these standards a very good book indeed.
Once your group has read the story, enjoyed meeting Ida, Moses, Surprise, Bandile and Simeon, and experienced the growing horror that comes as Ida realizes the specific danger the children are in, these questions will help you lead a great discussion filled with possibilities for Christian growth. For so many years we have all been hearing church people complain that we don’t teach them the application of the Gospel. Well, here it is lived out for us in South Africa among poverty and riches, orphans, and AIDS. There are so many possibilities, you will probably never get to all of them, but a good book bears rereading, and Diamonds in the Dust is a good book. So start with whatever topic is most interesting to you and the group. And enjoy.
Topics explored by this study guide relating to the book.
- The Basic Story
- Authority and 4th commandment issues
- Prayer
- Vocation: God at work
- Friendship
- Mercy vs. Justice
- Christian social responsibility
- Similarities and differences to your own culture
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