1.Is it wrong for Natalie and her friends to make up stories about themselves, or is it all in good fun? Have you ever told any tall tales in similar circumstances?

2.Do teachers have an obligation to hold a higher moral standard than other adults -- both inside and outside the classroom?

3.When Natalie discovers that Robert is illiterate, she tracks him down and spends a great deal of time and energy getting him back on track. Did she have any kind of obligation to him? Should teachers be expected to be all things -- social worker, instructor, surrogate parent -- to all of their students?

4.Natalie lives with her parents out of financial necessity. In doing so, she enjoys a much higher standard of living than if she were living on her own. Does this living arrangement stunt her maturity in any way? Should young adults live on their own at any cost -- both for their own sakes and for their parents’?

5.Characters’ use of the Internet affects relationships throughout the novel. In what ways does the Internet and other technology make platonic and romantic relationships easier? How can it complicate them?

6.Late in the novel, Snow writes:  “Arizona possessed an overriding sense of newness, of promise, of reinvention. But were the six-month-old houses any different, any better, than the ten-year-old houses? And what of my own reinvention, my new beginning After a year and a half in this place, I was still me -- plain old Natalie.”  Can moving to a new place provide an opportunity to forge a new identity? Or are you the same person no matter where you live?