Quick Questions
- In the journal entry, where is Rain going with her mother?
- Why doesn’t Uncle Ed vote at the city council meeting?
- Is the financing request approved?
- Who is the only person that Rain talks to at the meeting?
For Book Talks Or Your Journal
symbols and stereotypes
In the journal entry, Rain describes a day from a road trip with her mother. The sense of the scene is one of a great bonding moment, yet Rain describes the day as “pretty near perfect.” Read back over the scene. What might’ve been the one thing that marred Rain’s otherwise wonderful memory? Why?
conflicts of interest
The phrase conflict of interest comes up twice in the book, once when Natalie is warning Rain about reporting on but not joining the summer camp program and once when Uncle Ed steps down from the vote because a yay would benefit his niece. Have you ever faced a conflict of interest, a situation where you couldn’t be fair and impartial? How did you handle it and why?
Author Insights
Uncle Ed is a recovering alcoholic. Rain has tried drinking alcohol once with disastrous, or at least embarrassing, results. Fynn appears to drink socially. The Flash drinks once in a moment of panic although he carries tequila with him all of the time. Some people might say that books for young readers should not include any references to undesirable behavior.
I believe that young readers are people living in the real world and should be respected as such. I’d rather offer you a world like our own, with good and bad behaviors as well as, to the extent the story makes sense, their consequences. The references are woven into the novel not to preach, but because they occur naturally in the story.
My friends and family members include recovering alcoholics. I dearly love them all.