Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café/Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café takes the reader on a fascinating tour of small towns, big cities, and places in between. It also deals with the heights to which the human spirit can soar and the depths to which it can fall. This finely crafted story uses flashbacks and various points of view to draw the reader into the lives of the people in the small town of Whistle Stop, Alabama. Past and present complement each other as a picture is drawn of people who care for each other, survive tragedies, share triumphs, and testify to the complexity of the human condition.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! opens with a preface that describes Elmwood Springs, Missouri, in 1948. The story jumps to 1973 as the news that the famous cousin, Dena Nordstrom, plans to visit. Called “Baby Girl” by her family, Dena, a newscaster, doesn’t visit as a result of an alcoholic blackout. The story tells of the effects of good, evil, peace, and turmoil on small-town America. Though not as multi-leveled as Fried Green Tomatoes, the novel offers insights into human nature and keeps the reader involved in the different plot twists and turns.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.