Hegi's novel Stones from the River examines modern German history, particularly how ordinary German citizens, through their silence, became participants in the Holocaust.

1. Why do you think the author chooses a dwarf to be the character through whose eyes we see the events and people of this book?

2. Why can Trudi see things that others cannot? How does her almost magical ability to foresee and influence the future tie in with the themes of secrecy and "otherness"?

3. What is it about Trudi's relationship with Hanna that makes Trudi uneasy?

4. Why is it difficult to accept someone who is different from everyone else?

Why is it so important to be accepted?

Would Trudi have been a different person if she had not been born a dwarf?

5. Organized religion seems to have a great influence on the people of Burgdorf as Trudi is growing up. How then can...