1. Why do the Professor and Jeff decide to move to the small house on the Chesapeake Bay? How does this quiet setting affect Jeff?

2. Brother Thomas and the Professor are good friends even though they appear to be very different. What is the basis for their friendship? How are they alike?

3. What is the relationship between the book's title and its themes?

4. Analyze the attraction that the Tillerman family holds for Jeff.

5. Read another of Voigt's books that includes Jeff as a character. How does the way other characters see Jeff change your understanding of his personality?