1. What are midrashim? Where can one find them? What is their history?

2. Where does Satan appear in the Bible?

How is he portrayed by different religious denominations?

3. Why does Lester draw a distinction between eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and not taking responsibility for it? How is this an important part of Jewish tradition?

4. When the Beginning Began has a section titled "Sources," in which Lester chapter-by-chapter lists the publications that inspired his story. Pick a chapter and read the sources Lester lists and then compare them to Lester's chapter. How has Lester incorporated his sources into his narrative? Where does he part company with his sources, moving into his own imagination?

5. Lester has written several collections of stories based on African-American folk tales. Read one of these collections and then see...