52 pages 1 hour read

Kody Keplinger

That's Not What Happened

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Essay Topics

1.

The survivors are frequently named as a group. What direct or indirect characterization techniques does the author employ to individualize each survivor? How does the group identity both help and hinder the survivors in their journeys toward healing?

2.

That Coach Nolan’s victim portrait comes last in the series might be explained by its proximity to Miles’s letter, in which Coach Nolan plays a significant role. Why, though, might the author have chosen Lee to write Coach Nolan’s portrait instead of Miles? What does this say about Lee and Miles’s closeness?

3.

The shooter is never named in Lee’s narrative and his name is redacted from others’ writing. What impacts might be intended from the choice to never name the shooter?