Introduction

Marit Weisenberg’s This Golden State follows a family on the run, a restless teenage daughter hungry for the truth, and the simple DNA test that threatens their carefully crafted world

The Winslow family lives by five principles:

1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please?do not ask.

Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.

When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.

Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous?and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE
In the dim light of the girls’ high school bathroom, I took
apart the DNA test kit. I quickly read the instructions before
I lost my nerve.
I spit into the tube. I slipped it into the envelope. At the
bottom of my backpack, I found a cracked pen and carefully
printed an email address I didn’t own but prayed was still
available.
I refused to think. I left the bathroom and headed straight
for the front of the school, then to an opening in the chain-link
fence. Every day, I passed the pollen-coated
blue mailbox just off school grounds.
I heard a cough behind me. Harrison Addison—Silicon
Valley royalty, whom I sat next to in class but whom I had
barely spoken to, whom the other kids never dared speak to—held
an identical package in his hand. He reached in front of
me and grasped the mailbox lever. It yawned open with a creak.
I looked up at Harrison and gave him a questioning look.
He gestured with his chin for me to go first. I wavered, unsure
if this was a path I should go down and if it would lead me to
the truth my parents said I could never know.
... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

What is it about an unknown future that scares Poppy so much? Why might Poppy struggle?

How have Poppy’s parents’ decisions affected Poppy’s childhood and how she has grown up? What impact has it had on her relationship with the outside world?

Poppy has trained her mind to compartmentalize. How has she mastered this? Does that start to break down? What do you think about this skill? What does it say about both survival and pain?

Poppy’s mom says, “You can’t hide anything from your dad.” How does that feel to Poppy? Do her feelings change throughout the book? How much privacy should teens have?

About Harry, Poppy observes, “I wouldn’t have been curious except that we seemed to be the two misfits in class. He was so quiet.” (76). Why might Poppy think Harry seems like a misfit? How does that contrast with Poppy’s own outsider status?
How does Poppy’s impression of Harry change throughout the book?

What are the ways in which characters experience shame in the book? Do they evolve?

About telling the truth, Poppy says, “It felt like unzipping a costume and stepping out of a lifetime of pretending.” (275). What might this mean to Poppy? How does this contrast with the exterior that Poppy has always portrayed? Will it change things moving forward?

Staying off the grid plays a large role in the book. What aspects would you find most challenging? How would it have been easier or harder in the past versus the present?

How has DNA testing changed the nature of privacy? What are the pros? Are there cons?

What impact has Poppy’s family had on the person she has become? What would it mean for Poppy to move forward without them?
How does Poppy’s summer school class change her?
About her math class, Poppy thinks, “I’m living for this.” (87). How important is claiming this part of yourself? What if it negatively affects the people you love?
What does the story say about family?

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