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What role does imagination play in this story? Describe how it both helps and hurts the characters.

In a 2017 interview, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum said that the new technologies might actually provide solace to teenagers. How does Instagram provide solace to Ivy?

The physical therapist is present in almost as many sections as Ivy’s mother. Considering the fact that the next-door neighbor who appears once is identified as Marcia, why does Bynum leave the physical therapist unnamed?

How would this story change if it was narrated through Ivy’s perspective rather than her father’s?

Consider the story’s different depictions of femininity. How is Ivy coming to terms with her feminine identity, and is it influenced by the women in her life?

Dave scoffs at Ivy’s love for inspirational phrases, but he also speaks in clichés at times in the story. What do these phrases offer both characters? Does this create another connection between them?

Without directly explaining it, the story takes place during and immediately after the 2016 election. How does Bynum put clues in about this political context? It was published in 2017; does it read differently now that the US has a different president?

Like many other teenage girls, Ivy admires the influencers on YouTube. Why do you think these influencers are so powerful with teens, unlike the teens’ own parents?