Why do you think Miss Lucy revealed the harsh fates of the students' lives, crushing their dreams and hopes?

Why is Tommy's elbow wound a 'big deal? What is significant about it?

Why do you think the guardians are okay with giving lectures about sex (and being so detailed about it) but not donations?

??

what are the little marks/signs/symbols in between sections of a chapter?? they look like the kokpelli things and it's really off-putting

What do you think the symbols in the book mean and why does the author put them there? do you think they're significant?

Why is Kathy's cassette tape so important to her?

Why are they the "special" people chosen to be organ donors?

Why are all the guardians besides Miss Lucy okay with the children being ignorant of their inevitable fates?

Question

Why weren't the kids more affected than they were over the fact that one day their vital organs would be taken, killing them?

Why do you think Ms. Lucy finally spoke up about the children's future? What makes her different from the other guardians that she cannot keep hiding the truth from them?

As Miss Lucy put it, the students are "told and not told" details about the real world that transform their understanding of life outside of Hailsham and their future. In what ways does the information the students are told alter their perceptions of life and the way that they think? How does Kathy begin to break away from this mindset?

Who might have taken Kathy's tape and why?

Why is it that Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy are so emotionally attached to the town of Norfolk? and what is significant about what Ruth says about Norfolk? 

"When we lost something precious, and we'd looked and looked and still couldn't find it, then we didn't have to be completely heartbroken. We still had that last bit of comfort, thinking one day, when we were grown up, and we were free to travel around the country, we could always go and find it again in Norfolk." 

What do you think is the significance of Miss Lucy's outburst? What do you think this represents? How does this show her in her current position? (Working at Hailsham, not doing something big in America)

Seeing Salinger in The Little Prince

As I watch this movie over and over again with my kids, I can't help thinking about the connections to the main themes we've been discussing in Salinger's stories (the difficult process of growing up, the longing for innocence, the ability to escape and connect through storytelling, strong bonds between random adults and young children, the cyclical nature of life and the idea that death isn't an end). If you haven't seen this movie, watch it on Netflix!