Greetings from Nowhere [Paperback]

Aggie isn't expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills has become impossible. When she places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn't know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby's new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad's plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta's birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life after Willow's mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters,Greetings from Nowhere, with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O'Connor's work to a new level of sophistication.

This title has Common Core connections.

Discussion Questions
1. Describe the main setting of the novel. Why is it so important to the events in the story? How does setting influence character and plot?
2. Compare and contrast Willow to Loretta. Which character's life is almost perfect, but not quite? Why? What questions haunt Loretta?
3. Why are Kirby and his mother driving to the Smoky Mountains? Do you think Kirby deserves his destination or not? Why?
4. Aggie is regretting her decision to sell the motel. Have you ever regretted a big decision that you made? Why do you think it is so hard for Aggie to leave this place behind?
5. Explain the importance of the box that Loretta gets in the mail. How does it lead her family on an adventure? What do you think is the meaning behind the items in the box?
6. How has Kirby's time at the Sleepy Time Motel changed him? Do you consider what he did wil³’