Week of Nov 1

• What must it be like to meet famous people like Jane Fonda, Angelina Jolie, Manute Bol? What is the downside to the celebrity?
  
  
• Why does he think he was given the Christian name Valentino?
  
  
• Waiting is a central theme in this book. Compare the waiting in the emergency room with the waiting in Kenya and the waiting to get into college.
  
  
• When Valentino is tied up and left alone finally in the apartment, he tries in vain to make enough noise for the Christians downstairs to hear him. How is this like the many times the boys think the US will save them?
  
  
• What is it like to receive charity? How does it make a person feel?
  
  
• Think of the boys in the drama group and how the teacher calls them all Domenic. The boys laugh about this, but how is it similar to the January 1 birthdays?
  
  
• After Valentino is in the US for a while, he said, “Enthusiasm for us has dampened.” How does he continue to go on?
  
  
• Why does he tell his story over a 24 hour period?

Week of October 25

• P. 409-410: What does this dream mean?
  
  
• P. 438: When the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, there was hope again that the US would help the boys. How does one continue to hope in a situation like this?
  
  
• P. 443: During their visit to Nairobi, Tabitha wants to escape but Valentino doesn’t. Why didn’t he escape in Nairobi?

Week of October 18

• P. 331: Why does the Gulf War in 1991 give the boys hope?

• P. 336: Why do the boys leave Pinyudo?
  
  
• p. 345: After crossing the Gilo river again, Achor Achor said, “I really don’t want to be one of these people anymore.” What do you think he means?
  
  
• p. 349: “…the civil war become, to the world at large, too confusing to decipher, a mess of tribal conflicts with no clear heroes or villains.” Describe what this means.
  
  
• P. 367: “Bobby suggested that Tabitha’s murder was made possible by the madness of this country and on occasion in those dark weeks after her death, I allowed myself to find America complicit in the crime.” P. 369: “What have I done to bring such calamity down upon myself and those I love?” What does he mean?
  
  
• P. 373: Kakuma means nowhere. How must this knowledge impact the boys?
  
  
• P. 382: basketball restored the Sudanese to “the kings of Africa.” Imagine Valentino’s and the other boys’ pride in their success.
  
  
• P. 385-385: Between the barrier system and the ink to count refugees. How does this feel like the holocaust to the boys?
  
  
• P. 388: The term unaccompanied minors is how the lost boys were officially described, and Valentino talks about their group as the lowest in the hiearachy of the camp.
  
  
• P. 394: While considered unaccompanied minors, the boys create families similar to Valentino and Gop. Why does this happen?

Week of October 11

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• P. 263: Valentino meets Ajulo who cares for him and offers to be his mother. Why does he refuse? How does he respond to such an act of kindness?
  
  
• P. 273: After listening to Moses’ version of events the day Valentino’s village burned, he said to himself, “I stayed quiet and replaced my memory with his.” What does this mean?
  
  
• P. 298: Describe Valentino’s introduction to girls. How is this like most adolescent boys?

Week of October 4

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• P. 187: How does meeting up with William K. and his fabrications help Valentino on his journey?
  
  
• P. 192- What does Valentino understand about the British?
  
  
• P. 200: Do you think that the man who brought Valentino to his hut and cared for his leg really existed?

Week of September 27

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• P. 118: Why does Dut lecture Valentino?
  
  
• P. 131: Who is John Garang?
  
  
• P. 134: Dut tells what is the what story- how is it similar to Valentino’s father’s story? How is it different?
  
  
• P. 142: What does the expression, “drain a pond to catch a fish” mean?
  
  
• P. 167: All the lost boys were given the same birthday, January 1. Valentino writes, “Why were we all celebrating our birthdays on the same day? This is a good question and the answer to this is fascinating in its banality.” What does this mean?
  
  
• Why do you believe the lost in Atlanta were so frustrated with Mary Williams?
  
  
• P. 184-185 Bobby Newmyer dies, John Garang dies and the foundation breaks up. How does Valentino make sense of this?

Week of September 20

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• Why lost boys and not lost girls?
  

Week of September 13

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• Why does Valentino want to save TV boy?
  
  
• p. 55: How do you think William K’s ability to suspend belief will help Valentino later on?
  
  
• p. 62-63: Valentino hears the story of What is the What. Why are there two different stories?
  
  
• p. 71: Why are the SPLA taking over Valentino’s father’s store? What role does Khartoum play in this?