1. A number of adult novels, such as Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are about romances between poor young men and wealthy young women. Read one of these novels and compare the relationship between its protagonists and those in Workin' for Peanuts.

2. Compare and contrast Strasser's treatment of social class with that in another young adult novel, such as S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, M. E. Kerr's Gentlehands or Him She Loves?, or Strasser's own Angel Dust Blues or A Touchy Subject.

3. Discuss the symbolic use of setting in this novel. What, for example, do places like the stadium and Stottswood represent to Jeff?

4. At the end of the novel, Jeff and Melissa break up, probably never to see each other again. Discuss whether or not the novel has an unhappy ending, based...