Book Scavengers - Discussion Questions

1.      

1. What do you know about Emily?

2. How does Emily feel moving all the time? Would you feel the same if you were her?

3. Who is James? How does Emily know him?

4. Who threw The Gold-Bug into the garbage can? Why? 

5. How do Emily and James find The Gold-Bug?

6. Who is Mr. Remora? What does he do to get The Gold-Bug?

7. What is the bet between James and Maddie? Who is the winner?

8. How do Emily and James find all the clues? 

9. Why does James get angry with Emily? How do they make up with each other?

10. What do you think when Mr. Quisling asks Emily to return the book to Mr. Remora?

11. If you had to make a decision to return a book you were using or cost someone their job what would you do?

12. If you were Mathew, would you give up the concert of your favorite band to help your sister?

13. What is a great surprise for Emily, James and Mathew when they arrive the Bayside Press?

14. Who is Raven? Does Raven help Emily discover any clues?

15. How does Emily find the last clue that leads her, James and Mathew to the treasure?

16. Why would Mr. Remora do anything to get Edgar Allan Poe’s last manuscript?

17. What do you think of the story between  Edgar Allan Poe and Mr. Griswold’s great great great great grandfather?

18. Why does Mr Griswold create his literary treasure hunt?

19. Describe the Book Scavenger game? Would you play the game?

20. What are your favorite details? Do you like the ending of the book?

TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE - Questions for Book Club

1. Who are the Song girls? Which one of the Song girls is your favorite?

2. How does Margot affect Lara Jean's life?  Has Lara Jean changed in any way because Margot is no longer there?

3. Why did Lara Jean write letters to all her crushes when she didn’t want to love them anymore?

4. Lara Jean uses love letters as a way to get over boys. Have you ever used writing as a way to sort through your emotions?

5. Do you wish Lara Jean confess her love for Josh after Margot left for college? Why or why not?

6. Why did Lara Jean tell Josh that he had a boyfriend?\

7. What do you think of Lara Jean’s letter to Peter?

8. What do you think of Lara Jean and Peter’s contract?

9. What was your first impression of Peter?

10. Has your first impression of Peter changed at all during the first half of the book?

11. Do you think Lara Jean should have confessed her feelings for Josh to Margot? Or was she right to keep her feelings to herself?

12. What do you think of Josh when he was so intent on getting Lara Jean to break up with Peter because he wasn’t “good enough for her”?

13. What do you think of the hot tube rumor?  What did you do if you were Lara jean?

14.  How has Lara Jean changed? Has Lara Jean become more independent and what caused this transformation?

15. Did you have an idea of who sent the letters? Who did you think it was and why?

16. Are you Team Josh or Team Peter?

THE HUNGER GAMES - Discussion Questions

1.  How does Katniss feel about the country of Panem? Why does she need to make her face "an indifferent mask" and be careful what she says in public?

2.     How many districts in the country of Panem? At what age people from these districts would be candidates for The Hunger Game? Did they enjoin the game? Why or why not?

3.     Describe the relationships of Katniss with Gale, with Prim, with her mother. How do those relationships define her personality?

4.     How tributes are selected? How did Katniss become one of two tributes in district 12.

5.     How does Katniss‘ early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes?

6.     Who is Katniss and Peeta’s mentor? Is he a good mentor or a bad one? Explain.

7.     Why are the "tributes" given stylists and dressed so elaborately for the opening ceremony?

8.     When Peeta declares his love for Katniss in the interview, does he really mean it or did Haymitch create the "star-crossed lovers" story? What does Haymitch mean when he says, "It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived."

9.     Why do they need to impress sponsors and what are those sponsors looking for when they are watching the Games?

10.     Before the Games start, Peeta tells Katniss, " . . . I want to die as myself . . . I don't want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I'm not." What does this tell you about Peeta? What does he fear more than death? Is he able to stay true to himself during the Games?

11.     What are the most important skills Katniss has for staying alive - her knowledge of nature? - her skill with bow and arrow? - her trapping ability? Explain.

12.     What makes Katniss and Rue trust each other to become partners? What does Katniss gain from this friendship besides companionship? Is Katniss and Rue's partnership formed for different reasons than the other group's?

13.     When does Katniss first realize that Peeta does care for her and is trying to keep her alive? When does she realize her own feelings for him? Did Haymitch think all along that he could keep them both alive by stressing the love story? Are they actually in love?

14.     What do you think is the cruelest part of the Hunger Games? What kind of people would devise this spectacle for the entertainment of their populace?

15.     What did Katniss do to save Peeta? Did her action make everyone happy?  Why or why not?

16.     Do you like the ending of the book? Can you predict what would happen in the next book?  

scussion Questions

1.     Where did Jack first plan to take Cora on his first date? Why did his change his mind?

2.     How did Jack, Cora and Austin enter the underworld?

3.     Was Jack a freak? What made him think so?

4.     Did Jack regret that he took Cora to the underworld? Why?

5.     Who was actually “ The Living Avenger”? Explain.

6.     Why was Euri sad when she found out Professor Schmitt couldn’t help Jack and Cora to find the way back to the living world?

7.     Who was Nate? Why did Euri haunt him?

8.     Who was Colonel Mann? Did he a good ghost?

9.     Who was General Viele? Why was his haunted site classified?

10.   Why didn’t Euri want Jack to stay in the underworld? Was she Jack’s good friend?

11.   Was Jack a good friend of Austin? Why did Jack decide to go back to save Austin?

12.     What do you learn about the friendship between Jack, Eurin, Cora and Austin? 

Discussion Questions

1. 1. Tyler’s landscaping job develops his muscles, but also allows him to use his skills at digging holes: “I was good at digging holes. It was the rest of life I sucked at” (p. 39). What figurative holes has Tyler dug for himself in his life? Is it really true that he isn’t good at anything else?
   
   
   2. Why did Tyler’s father stop him from doing landscape job?
   
   
   3. What do you thing of Tyler’s relationship with members of his family?
   
   
   4. Why did Chip hate Tyler? Why did Tyler let Chip won the arm wrestling game?
   
   
   5. Although he doesn’t seem like a depressed person, Tyler admits to being preoccupied with death. “Thinking about death relaxed me” (p. 44). Why? In what ways has he died and been reborn again throughout the story?
   
   
   6. At Tyler’s high school there is a clear distinction between the popular crowd and everyone else. Where do you fit in the social scale at your school? In what ways has the status you hold in your social sphere defined you? In what ways is this role true to who you are? In what ways is it not?
   
   
   7. Do you think Tyler’s school treats him fair? Why or why not?
   
   
   8. Why does Tyler like Bethany? Were there any signs early on that she might not really like him the same way he liked her? What do you think is her real attraction to him? Is it true when his sister Hannah says that it could never have worked out? In your own life, are there any examples of two very different people who manage to be together despite their apparent differences?
   
   
   9. What do you think of Tyler’s reaction to Bethany’s behavior at the party? How would you react? Would you be sad? Angry?
   
   
   10. Why do you think Laurie Halse Anderson chose “Twisted” as the title of this novel? What does it mean in relation to the story?
   
   
   11. On the surface Tyler seems to disrespect the janitors that he is made to work with as part of his probation. Yet they act as a sort of conscience and offer support later in the story. Have you ever gotten help from an unexpected source?
   
   
   12. Who has Tyler been trying to be? His father? A loser? A cool guy? Which of these identities is closest to his true self?
   
   
   13. Do you like Tyler as a person?  If you were him, would you do differently? (Toward his friends, his family, and his school?)
   
   
   14. What is the different between Tyler at the beginning and Tyler at the end of the book?
   
   
   15. Do you like the ending of the book?  Would you expect different ending?
   
   

Discussion Questions

1.      Why were there so many French names in New Orleans?

2.      Why was Jessie's family so poor? What had happened in the past to cause this poverty?

3.      What was Jessie mother's occupation?

4.      What happened to Jessie when he comes back from his aunt’s house?

5.      Why are one of the chapters in the book called "The Moonlight"?

6.      What business was Moonlight engaged in? were it a dangerous business? Why?

7.      How many crews in the ship including Jessie? What did Purvis mean when he said”:… all because of you, so watch your step for if something goes wrong, it 'll be your fault. Don' t forget Jonah and what happened to him, only you shall land up in the belly of a shark-" s. Explain what Purvis means. What is he referring to when he talks about a Jonah?

8.      Why did Jessie mistrust Stout, who was nice to him, and trusted Purvis who's rough with him?

9.      Why has Jessie difficulties getting used to life on a ship?

10.  What was Jessie’s main job on the Moonlight?

11.  Is there no cure for such a disease?" Jessie  asked. "None," replied Ned. "No more than there's a cure for man himself." What did Ned mean with that?

12.  Why did the captain throw Nicholas Spark overboard?

13.  What did Stout want from Jessie? Why did he steal his pipe and threw it into the hold? Why did he forced Jessie down into the hold to search for it?

14.  Stout thought he saw a British ship and the Captain ordered the Spanish flag down and the American flag up. Why did  he do that?

15.  When the Captain realized that the ship was American and he shouted: "Stout! You've murdered me!" Why did he say that?

16.  Why did they throw the slaves overboard?

17.  What happened to Moonlight and its crews and captain in the end?

18.  Was Jessie a good swimmer? How did he survive?

19.  Why does the old man want Jessie to tell him all about "that ship"?
Why does he say" "That's the way it was,..."

20.  Would Jessie tell anyone about the Daniel? Why or why not?

21.  Who was the slave dancer?

22.  Why was Jessie unable to listen to the music later in his life ?

FLOWERS FOR ANGERNON - Disscusion Questions

1.     What time period does this novel take place?

2.     What disability does Charlie have?

3.     Does Charlie need the surgery to become happy with life?

4.     Where does Charlie work?

5.      Charlie states, "People think it's funny when a dumb person can't do things the same way they can." What is society's perception on the mentally disabled? Does society treat them as outcasts or accommodate them?

6.     Who is running the experiment?

7.     Who is Algernon?

8.     How do Nemur and Strauss treat Charlie? Do they treat him like a human or like a rat you would perform experiments on?

9.      What are the similarities and differences between Charlie and Algernon?

10.  What changes took place at the bakery when Charlie became smarter? How did people begin to treat him? How did they react to his new found intelligence?

11.  How does Charlie's personality begin to change as a result of his increasing IQ?

12. Do you prefer the Charlie before or after the surgery?

13. What is Charlie's relationship to Fay? How does it change throughout the story? Is Charlie's relationship with Fay a healthy one?

14.  Which characters can be considered Charlie's true friends?

15.   Describe the procedure and risks of the experiment.

16.   How do Charlie and the scientists come to realize the experiment will not work?

17. Where does Charlie end up in the final chapter?

18.  What are the main themes and morals throughout the novel?

19.     How does treatment of the mentally disabled currently compare to the treatment of the mentally disabled in 70s?

20. What effect does writing in journal form have on the overall novel?

21.  What is the significance of the title. What are the flowers's for Algernon significant of?

22.  Do you like the ending of the book? If you were the author how would you end the story?