• James blown away by his mother on the bike. (page 7-8)—JC

• Why doesn’t the author’s stepfather live with his family? p. 9—CS

• religion in the wrong hands (Ch.3 pg 15-19)—KH

• Page 21- Do you think Ruth’s strategy by not directly answering James’s questions about race was appropriate?—SM

• p. 36. James punching the black panther boy in the face as an example of his conflictions regarding race.—DM

• Pg. 51, “What color is God’s spirit?” “It doesn’t have a color,” she said, “God is the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color.”—WF

• The author mentions the boy in the mirror (Pg. 91) what is the difference between McBride’s physical self and the “reflection” of his physical self, that makes the boy in the mirror free?—EA

• In reference to pages 91 and 94, is racial identity as important as other forms of identity? How so?—PW

• “...We brought the outside world home with us, and the world that Mommy had so painstakingly created began to fall apart” (McBride, 95). Was it right for their mother to shelter them so much?—BF

• Idea of a constant surrounding of death (Page 111, middle of Page)—AR

• “I wanted to tell him that I loved him, that I hoped with all my heart that he would get better, but I could not formulate the words in my mouth. We had never spoken that way to one another” (p. 128).—PY

• Why does McBride trade the two stories back and forth in the book? Why not tell one, then the other?—AW