50 Years And A Broken Rule

In Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Animal Vegetable, Miracle (2007), her daughter, Camille, contributes to the

chapter with her story, "Happy Returns" about friends and family coming out to celebrate Barbara

Kingsolver's 50th birthday. Camille first recaps the chapter by articulating how birthdays are a "big deal" to

her family . She then gives a brief anecdote about the birthday invitation rule: you could only invite as many

people as the age you where turning, and her mom breaking the rule by inviting 150 people to her 50th

birthday celebration. She concludes with an example of two recipes that can be made in the early spring with

fresh fruit: Asian Vegetable Rolls and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. her purpose is to connect with readers by

giving a personal story then establishing authority when challenging the audience to indulge in the recipes.

Vocabulary

• Prodigious- amazing, enormous

• Ubiquitous- everywhere at the same time

Tone 

cheerful, joyful, content

Rhetorical Strategies

• Colloquialism: "Right behind planting came the weeding, mulching, vigilance for bugs and birds worry 

over too much rain or not enough. (pg 102).

• Humor: "Rosemary and sage, blueberry and raspberry, fountain grass, blue sweetgrass, sunshine- 

colored roses, blue-and-white columbines, scarlet poppies, butterfly bush and "sunset"  echinacea- the

color scheme of my garden is "Crayola" (pg 107).

• Diction: "The food, when it came out, was applauded: the summer rolls were saucy, the lamb succulent, 

the frittata puffy and light" (pg 106).

• Description: ""The tree-year-olds were the first ones out on the flagstone dance floor, of course, 

followed closely by my seventy-five-year-old parents, the teenagers and the elders and the middle-aged, 

recklessly dancing across age categories" (pg 106). 

• Concrete Imagery: "with carrots you never know what you've got until you grab them by the green hair 

and tug them up. These turned out to be gorgeous, golden orange, thicker than thumbs, longer than my hand." 

(pg 105).

Discussion Questions

1) Was this really the first time the birthday invitation rule was broken?

2) what other sensory details does Kingsolver use?

3)  Is it "ok" to wish for rain or wish for it not too rain while still being thankful for the whether conditions?

Quotes

"This is what my friends bought... Rosemary and sage, blueberry and raspberry, fountain grass, blue 

sweetgrass, sunshine-colored roses, blue-and-white columbines, scarlet poppies, butterfly bush and "sunset"  

echinacea- the color scheme of my garden is "Crayola" (pg 107).