Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- What does this book tell us about growing up? Can someone grow up in just a year?
- Try this on for size: Imagine that Billy isn't the narrator. How would this book change if it had a different storyteller? What if it were told by Mama or Sal? Or, gulp, Emma Sparks?
- How are men and women represented in The Year of Billy Miller? How do they take on traditional gender roles, and how do they bust out of these roles?
- Imagine this: What if this book were called The Day of Billy Miller? Or The Week of Billy Miller? Or even The Decade of Billy Miller? How does the idea of one year passing impact this story? And how would things be different if we learned about more or less than a year?
- How does the chapter organization in this book work? Why do you think there are four different sections based on four different characters? What does this tell us about the characters? And about Billy himself?