In the opening chapter, the white bus driver takes great glee in running the black children off the road, forcing them to jump into the weeds and briars on the shoulder. He laughs as he splashes them with mud. Why would a grown man do such a cruel thing to children? Why do the white children laugh when he does?

What are some of the differences between the black school and the white school?

When it's properly displayed, the American flag should be the same height or higher than any state flag. Outside the white school, the Mississippi state flag, which is also the flag of the Confederacy, flies higher than the American flag. Why do the white residents fly the state flag higher? What does it mean to them?

There are many injustices in Cassie's town, including the Mississippi flag's flying higher than the...