Whales on Stilts! by M.T. Anderson Page B

“Why-Lily—with your hair blown back like that— you’re beautiful.”
    Lily quickly covered her eyes with her bangs.
    Katie shook her head. “Walking whales,” she said. “Is there a single weird thing that doesn’t happen to us?”
    â€œCould have been worse, fellows,” said Jasper. “It could have been evil, flying kelp. Or giant man-eating sea anemones.”
    Katie shrugged. “With fiends like these, who needs anemones?”
    She grinned and spread her hands.
    â€œKatie,” said Jasper, “we could laugh, but that would be like lying to a friend.”
    He turned to look at the clouds. Katie punched him lightly on the arm. Jasper just whistled a tune and kept looking at the clouds. Katie leaned her elbows on the railing next to him. Jasper kicked Katie in the shin, in a polite, gentlemanly kind of way. Katie, admiring the way the water reflected the light, put her pinkie in Jasper’s ear. Jasper took his elbow and— “Break it up,” said Lily, “or I’m throwing my Jell-O at both of you.”
    Along the shore, the forest and the gorge turned red with sunset. For a long time, they stood by the railing and talked about things that mattered to them. There are times when friendship feels like running down a hill together as fast as you can, jumping over things, spinning around, and you don’t care where you’re going,and you don’t care where you’ve come from, because all that matters is speed, and the hands holding your hands. That’s how it felt to Katie, Jasper, and Lily: Though the night was falling, it was as if they could still feel the sun on their faces, and they stood together talking until the sky turned to black, the party balloons sagged, and the androids came to take them home.

Questions for Further Study
    We hope that you have enjoyed
Whales on Stilts!
Many readers may be coming across this book for the first time in a classroom setting or in a structured reading group; for them we have endeavored to provide questions to aid in a thoughtful and insightful conversation about the themes, characters, and real-world story that the author, M. T. Anderson, has woven into the rich tapestry that is this book. The editors at Simon & Schuster have employed child-learning specialist Ann Mowbray Dixon-Clarke to come up with a series of talking-points that will enrich, enliven, and enlighten.
    When everyone in your group is seated comfortably, the designated moderator should begin by asking the following questions:
    1. Who chose this book?
    2. Can I hit him/her in the stomach?
    3. Which character is your favorite character?
    4. Out of all the page numbers in the book, which one is your favorite? Discuss.
    5. What’s that out the window?
    6. If you could legally drive any whale at all, would you drive a baleen whale (Suborder Mysticeti) or a toothed whale (Suborder Odontoceti)? (Please show your work.)
    7. In the scene with the giant starfish, who should have picked up the powdered sugar?
    a. Katie
    b. Jasper
    c. Whoever spilled it, thank you very much
    d. Nimrod, the debonair pet rat. What antics!
    8. Which whale book with a character named Lily and another one named Jasper is your favorite?
    9. Oh, really?
    10. Lily notices many strange things around the streets of Pelt. What strange things do you notice around your town?
    11. Should you report something like that to the police?
    12. Jasper Dash owns a pair of electric pants. If you could electrify any article of your best friend’s clothing, which would it be, and how many volts?
    13. What do you think the theme of this work is? Please hum it in its entirety.
    14. When you are reading this book and you begin to weep, is it because of:
    a. the plight of Pelt
    b. the terror of whales
    c. too many fictional helmets
    d. you are reading this book
    e. Ann Mowbray Dixon-Clarke
    15. Anchovies: Why?
    16. In one scene, Jasper Dash wears a futuristic photocopier-repair