Book Groups

Questions for Book Group Discussion

• Was Joci a good friend? How? What makes a good friend? What do you do when a friend doesn’t understand how you feel about something?
• Corinna was accused of cheating by Mr. Spinolli. How do you think a teacher should handle a situation when he or she thinks someone is cheating during a test?
• Corinna takes bubble baths, listens to music, walks the dog, and sometimes wears cozy pajamas to help her relax. What are some things you do to help you relax when you need to?
• Corinna’s family has a history of avoiding conversations about tough topics. How has this affected each family member?
• Kids and grown-ups often feel like they don’t know what to say in certain situations. What are some things you could say to a friend who had someone close to them die?
• Corinna felt betrayed by Joci when she told her secret. What do you think led to the telling? What do you think about how each of them handled it afterward?
• What do you think Corinna’s friends and teachers could have done differently to help her? What did you think they did that was in fact helpful to her?
• When Corinna thinks she found her bracelet at Joci’s, what went through your mind about the bracelet, their friendship, and what you would do if you were in a similar situation?  
• Lunch table groupings seem pretty fixed in Corinna’s school.  How does the seating go in your school, and how does it work for you? Would you like to see that change, and if so, how?
• What advice could you give to Corinna for the future when the jerks in the cafeteria say mean things to her? Do you have any suggestions for Nicole to use the next time someone calls her Shamu?
• Corinna was hurt and mad about her parents and grandparents hiding important information. When and how do you think they should have told her about her baby brother and her mom’s biological father?
• Corinna’s secrets about her crushes and her mom’s illness are revealed by her best friend, Jocelyn. How do you know if you can trust someone to keep a secret?  What options do you have when you feel like you want to share your secret but also want to keep control over the flow of information?
• The expression, “there’s an elephant in the room,” describes the situation when there’s a topic that everyone is avoiding, even if it’s in plain sight. What is an example of an elephant in the room in your own life and how did people handle it?  How would you advise them to handle it the next time an elephant appears?
• Corinna wrote a letter to her mother’s doctor asking some tough questions. Do you think she should have sent it? How would you react if you were the doctor receiving it?
• What is your “if only”?
• The school principal had a certain something attached to his shoe. What is the funniest thing you ever saw a teacher or principal do?
• Has anyone in your school had a relative die? How did you find out? How did you react? How do you think you will handle such an event after reading this book?
• Why do you think Max, the boy whose father committed suicide, said he was glad his father didn’t die of a disease?
• What are the upsides and downsides of “being strong” or acting strong?
• Shamu is the target for lots of teasing, and it takes a lot of courage to stand up and stick up for her. What’s been your experience with witnessing bullying and deciding how to react?
• Olivia shares her belief in ghosts with Corinna when they are walking together in the graveyard. Do you believe in ghosts and what is your proof? 
• How does Corinna change over the course of the year? 
• How is Yasmine’s experience similar or different than the other kids in the death group? (She’s the one whose father was blown up by a bomb in Afghanistan.) What are some things you could do to support her? Imagine you went to school with all of the kids in the death group. Would you act differently with her or be more or less comfortable with her than with any of the others? Why?