1. Palmer is filled with dread and apprehension at the approach of his tenth birthday. How can the perceived need to do something you don't want to do create these emotions?

2. Palmer's initiation rite into the gang was "the treatment" administered by Farquar. Have you ever experienced an initiation rite? Describe the rite.

3. What makes young people pick on others, call them names, harass them? What is a bully? Why does Palmer become a bully toward his friend Dorothy? Why doesn't Dorothy retaliate?

4. Explain what Spinelli means by the statement "Palmer had the sense that he was seeing more than a game, that Henry was not just a member of the group, but also its prey" (pages 16-17).

5. Explain the reactions of Palmer, his mother, and his father to "the treatment" Palmer received from Farquar.

6. Spinelli uses imagery to create a picture of death and...