Consider how the author explores the setting. How are Bakersfield and Rain Valley similar and different? How do the settings in this story come alive, and what about these settings enhances the magical elements of the text?

How does Joy change throughout the novel? How is this change internally motivated or externally prompted, and it what ways can the stark contrast be explained through the “magic” of her experience?

What does the plane symbolize for Joy? How does its meaning change each of the three times she approaches one?