Questions About
Clara’s Strange Adventures: The Wrong Way Home

Questions 1 & 2 are for readers of all ages. Others are for ages 8 and up.

  1. When Clara felt upset or frightened, how did she react at first? What helped her calm down and keep going instead of giving up?

  2. The Wise Young Parrot made an error by giving Clara the wrong magic words. What did he learn from his mistake, and how did that help him grow?

  3. In Underground Land, Clara floated on top of rising water. Why do you think some things float in water, and other things sink? What makes the difference?

  4. To dance Salsa, people step on beats 1, 2, & 3, but not on beat 4. You could say that the third step lasts for two beats while the other steps each last one beat. If a step lasting one beat is called a “quick,” and a step lasting 2 beats is called “slow,” what combination of “quicks” & “slows" would describe Salsa footwork?

  5. In the last chapter, we learn that Clara and Cosmo had the same thought with the same words about each other. What do we learn about them from this? What does the reader also learn about how people see the world?

  6. By the end of the book, how had Clara grown and matured from her experiences? Have you had experiences that helped you grow and mature?

Additional Questions:

  1. Compare a parrot’s body to an aardvark’s body. Why do you think these animals need different bodies for the different environments they inhabit?

  2. At first, in Rhythm and Dance Land, Clara's efforts to step in a rhythm were frustrating to her. But after a while, she started to enjoy practicing, even though she still wasn't perfect at it. Why do you think her attitude about this changed?

  3. Use your imagination to think of one or two other “lands” where Clara might have gone that day. Name two things that would be unusual about each land that you think of.

Answers

  1. When she was frightened, frustrated, or angry, she sometimes started to cry. But she kept going because she had to continue trying to get home. As the story progressed, it became easier for her to keep going because she remembered that she had solved hard problems before. Her confidence in herself grew and she continued trying to figure out a solution to any problem she faced. Eventually her persistence and the help she got enabled her to overcome any challenges.

  2. The Wise Young Parrot made the mistake of reading outdated magic words to Clara. But when he realized that he wasn’t reading carefully enough, he learned that he must be more thorough and cautious in his work. He promised himself that he wouldn’t make the same mistake again! Essentially, the parrot made a mistake but he learned from it. Mistakes are helpful in exactly this way—people learn what to avoid in the future so they won’t repeat their mistakes!

  3. Heavier things will skink in water. Specifically, things that are lighter for their size, than the water they are in, can float on that body of water. In other words, floating depends on how heavy something is relative to its size. If an object weighs 10 pounds but is the size of a golf ball, it will sink. But something that is several feet long and weighs 10 pounds will float because the weight or mass is spread over a wide area, making it lighter than the water it’s in.

  4. The words expressing this rhythm pattern are “quick quick slow.” This is because we say “slow” on the 3rd beat since we don’t step on the next (4th) beat. We wait till after the 4th beat to take the next step.
    For a summary of basic dance rhythms, visit: https://danceintime.com/forchildren
    For a video of Salsa and other popular Latin dances, visit: youtu.be/c2zXnvWdUFE

  5. They each said to themselves that they felt sorry for the other. Each of them also thought that the town the other one lives in is strange. This reflects a level of sympathy and understanding that each of them has. But beyond that, we see that both characters thought their own town was fine, and their own way of doing things was sensible. They didn’t understand as well things that were different from what they were accustomed to. An implicit, or unspoken lesson for the reader is that it’s helpful to be tolerant of things that are different.

  6. Clara’s experiences helped her develop and recognize important inner strengths, including resourcefulness, perseverance, and the ability to deal with difficult situations.

  7. Most obviously, a parrot is much smaller than an aardvark. Their smaller size and lightweight bones enable parrots to fly. In addition, their feet are good for gripping branches.

    But the aardvark has many adaptations that help its underground life. It has claws that are strong for digging tunnels. It also has a long sticky tongue that helps the animal collect ants and termites to eat. And an aardvark’s nose is very sensitive to smell, which helps the aardvark find food underground.

  8. A couple of things contributed to her change in attitude. First, she stopped worrying about getting her steps perfect and just practiced to improve, so she could be more relaxed. Also, the spirit of fun that other people had as they moved to the rhythm was “contagious.” These things helped her enjoy what she was doing.

  9. There could be a land called Backwardsville, where everything happens in reverse. People say goodbye before they say hello and they read books from the last page to the first.

    Or there could be a Land of Many Choices, where every decision has many, many options. For example, there could be 100 flavors of ice cream, and many hundreds of colors.