Blind Your Ponies (73 page)

I followed the team over Montana highways in the dead of winter to farflung outposts and cracker-box gyms to find an answer to a single, driving question: Why do they carry on in the face of utter and certain defeat?

1. How is the town of Willow Creek and its basketball program different from other Montana towns?

2. Why does Sam think he can help the team have one last winning season? Is it for the town, for the players, or for himself?

3. What roles do the novel
Don Quixote
and the musical
Man of La Mancha
play in this novel?

4. How are Sam and Diana similar or different in the way they react to the world after the death of people close to them?

5. What does Grandma Chapman mean when she says, “As long as she swims, I will cook”? Who else in Willow Creek has a similar philosophy?

6. Why is the bicycle built for two so important to the town of Willow Creek? What do you think it represents?

7. How does each player of the Willow Creek team overcome a personal obstacle both on and off the court?

8. Does your opinion of George Stonebreaker change after Sally Cutter’s revelation? How?

9. Throughout the novel, Sam’s faith in his team waxes and wanes. Why is he so hesitant to believe completely in his team?

10. Why does Peter lie about his relationship with Kathy? What does this say about how much Willow Creek’s basketball team means to him?

11. How are the fathers of Peter, Tom, Olaf, and Dean similar? How are they different?

12. At what point does the town of Willow Creek believe in the team? Why are some citizens more supportive than others?

13. What does Denise Cutter mean to the team?

14. What do you think will happen to Willow Creek after the end of the basketball season? And to Sam?

15. Would you have chosen a different title for this book? Why or why not?

16. How do you think Peter and Olaf have been affected by the time they have spent in Willow Creek?

17. If you imagined a sequel to this novel, which characters would you most want to see included, and what would happen to set the plot in motion?