What has Max learned from Rachel, and what has she learned from Max? How does their interaction resemble a friendship, and how is it like a brother-sister relationship?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from a few points of discussion, such as the protagonists’ courage, determination, love of reading, belief (or non-belief) in magic, ability (or inability) to talk about problems, and connections to their parents. You may wish to assign a brief essay in which students set down their thoughts on the first question, followed by a separate, short essay on the second question. These questions touch on all three themes: Doing the Right Thing Instead of the Safe Thing; Reading as a Defense, and Reading as Inspiration; and Comforting Beliefs and Powerful Truths.

Differentiation Suggestion: For the first question, some students may do better by setting up a three-column graphic organizer. The left column lists character attributes such as “Courage,” “Determination,” and “Love of Reading,” while the center and right columns—one for Max and one for Rachel—list what each learns from the other about each attribute. Similarly, answers to the second question can be outlined in two columns: “Friendship Traits” and “Brother-Sister Traits.”