Lu

What is the significance and importance of names in this story? How do names, ones that characters choose for themselves and ones that others choose for them, affect the characters?

Lu’s track team is called the Defenders. How do Lu and his teammates defend one another?

What is the significance of Christina’s fruit sculpture business? What do the sculptures symbolize and tell us about Christina’s way of seeing the world?

Lu learns the word integrity in the text. What is the significance of this word to Lu, and how does Lu show integrity throughout the text?

What does Lu learn about people’s capacity to cause harm? How do specific characters repair or fail to repair the harm they have caused?

How do Lu’s parents help him to learn compassion and empathy for others? How does this lesson shape and change Lu’s outlook and interactions with others?

What does Lu teach his father about the importance of processing upsetting things from one’s past? What impact does this have on Goose’s life and decision-making?

What does Coach’s gold medal symbolize for Coach, Lu, and Goose? How does its symbolism change throughout the text?