Fallout

11. Why does Mr. McGovern want to treat Mrs. Porter and Janet differently from everyone else in the shelter? To him, what makes their lives less valuable? How do the other adults respond to his argument? How would you?

12. For Scott, the worst part of being in the bomb shelter “is the way the grown-ups act.” What is the difference between the behavior of the children and that of the adults in the shelter? Why can’t the adults get along with one another?

13. All the old rules of modesty disappear after a few days. “What’s the big deal?” Scott finds himself wondering. “Why was it ever a big deal?” How would you answer his question? Why does our society value modesty?

14. Mrs. Shaw predicts a terrifying future for everyone in the shelter, but Mr. Porter tries to comfort his worried son. “Things will be different from before,” he says, “but right now we don’t know how.” What do you think happens to the Porters after the novel ends? How do you imagine your family would be different today if there really had been a nuclear war in 1962?

15. Mr. Porter believes that hope is “all we’ve got to keep us going.” Why is hope so powerful? Why doesn’t Mr. McGovern trust it?

16. In his author’s note, Todd Strasser asks: “Has the result [of war] ever been anything other than misery, death, and destruction?” What do you think? Has anything good ever come from a war?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Todd Strasser is the author of more than 140 novels for children and young adults, most notably The Wave and Give a Boy a Gun, which are taught in classrooms around the world. The author Skypes with classes who read his books. He lives in Westchester County, New York, and he grew up on Long Island, where his father built a bomb shelter for the family in 1962.

Copyright

Candlewick Press

www.candlewick.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2013 by Todd Strasser

Cover photographs: copyright © 2013 by Image Source Photography/Veer (houses); copyright © 2013 by Khalid Hawe/Getty Images (man); copyright © 2013 by Lisa Stokes/Getty Images (boy); copyright © 2013 by Alloy Photography/Veer (dirt)

Photograph in the author’s note courtesy of the author

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First electronic edition 2013

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012955123

ISBN 978-0-7636-5534-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-7636-6722-1 (electronic)

Candlewick Press

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Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

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