1. List the points of advice about writing that Julia receives from various characters. Then write a short story of your own, attempting to incorporate the advice that Julia receives.

2. Trace the steps of Julia's gradual acceptance of her mother's marriage to Phil Stanhope. What events in Julia's life help her to accept Uncle Phil? How does her mother help? How does Uncle Phil help?

3. Read Ivan Southall's Josh, a novel about an adolescent boy who wants to become a writer. Compare Josh's and Julia's reasons for wanting to write, how they work to improve their writing, and how their experiences affect their writing.

4. Julia's friend Leslie publishes her poetry in St. Nicholas, an influential magazine of writing for and by young people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Research and report on the history and significance of St...