1. AOs tend to be obsessed with controlling both their own lives and the lives of other people. Why is this the case?

2. Sam and Ollie must not only contend with their mother's alcoholism, but with being abandoned by their father. Why do you think he left? To what extent was the mother's alcoholism either a cause of his leaving or an effect?

3. How is religion presented in No Kidding? Are there people in your community with attitudes similar to those of the Steemers? What do you think of Prior Marloe's attempt to build a church dedicated exclusively to the needs of AOs?

4. Sam says he is trying to decide between letting the Bigelows adopt Ollie and returning him to his mother.

Supposedly the deciding factor will be his mother's ability to stay sober. Yet Sam signs the adoption papers before she fakes being drunk...