1. Are Matt's father, stepmother, and grandmother right to treat Matt's drunkenness as lightly as they do?

2. What is the significance of the book's title, a phrase that appears at the end of the novel when Matt observes that "the stars look close enough to touch?"

3. Peck's novel is sometimes a bit harsh in its portrayal of young adults from well-to-do families. Do you feel that Matt is being fair in the judgments he makes about these children of the wealthy?

4. Margaret Chasen is named after the young girl in Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem, "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child." In what ways is Margaret like or not like the child in the poem? In what ways is Dory Gunderson like or not like the girl in the poem?

5. Matt sees many of his schoolmates as stereotypes or caricatures. Is Joe Hoenig an exception...