Throughout the novel, Melinda struggles to find her voice. How does Melinda’s ability to speak connect to her healing and agency over a traumatic event?

• How does the motif of speaking (or staying silent) drive the novel?
• What might speaking represent to Melinda?
• How do close mentors and peers encourage and inspire her to speak and why?
• What makes the process of finding her voice so difficult?
• What role does the characters’ choice not to listen play in Melinda’s struggle?
• What messages does Anderson telegraph by exploring motifs of speaking and listening in the novel?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from written copies of the questions to refer to while discussing. Students may also benefit from previewing questions ahead of time to prepare in-depth answers and refer more directly to the text. Group or personal notetaking may increase information retention.

Differentiation Suggestion: Nonverbal or socially anxious students may benefit from the opportunity to submit written responses in place of verbal participation. Students with hearing impairments may benefit from optimized seating and transcribed discussion notes. Multilingual language learners and those with attentional and/or executive functioning differences may benefit from pre-highlighted, pre-marked, or annotated passages to locate textual support when answering. Students in need of more challenge or rigor may benefit from creating their own sub-questions based on the original prompt and/or assigning roles for student-led or Socratic discussion.