1. Rebecca mentions having to memorize material in school. What good is memorization? Is it possible to think without knowing the facts?

2. What aspects of school does Rebecca seem to like better than memorizing and lecturing? Why would she like it better?

3. Why does Rebecca deliberately break rules? When she breaks a religious rule, is she being sacrilegious?

4. Why would Rebecca wonder whether anything she had done would make God hurt her father?

5. What does Rebecca mean when she says that "when I write, I can hold on"?

6. When Rebecca says that "this whole world is full of fakes," to whom does she refer? Is she correct?

7. Is the Passover celebration at the end of the novel a happy one or a sad one?

8. How well do the Samuelsons cope without the family's father?

9. Why does Rebecca write letters to Elijah?

10. What about Judaism did...