NEWYORKTIMESBESTSELLINGAUTHORS Off the Page This guide includes Discussion Questions, Creative Writing Connections that correlate to the Common Core, and a special section for Mother-Daughter Book Clubs! THECOMPANIONTOBETWEENTHELINES DISCUSSION GUIDE INCLUDESCOMMONCORESTANDARDCORRELATIONS ABOUT THE BOOK rom #1 New York Times best- sellingF authors Jodi Picoult and her daughter and coauthor, Samantha van Leer, comes OFF THE PAGE, a tender and appealing romantic YA novel filled with humor, adventure, and magical relationships. Meet Oliver, a prince literally taken from the pages of a fairy tale and transported into the real world. Meet Delilah, the girl who wished Oliver into being. It’s a miracle that seems perfect at first—but there are complications. To exist in Delilah’s world, Oliver must take the place of a regular boy. Enter Edgar, who agrees to play Oliver’s role in the pages of Delilah’s favorite book. But just when Grades 7 and up HC: 978-0-553-53556-3 it seems that the plan will work, EL: 978-0-553-53558-7 everything gets turned upside down. Full of humor and witty commentary ABOUT THE AUTHORS about life, OFF THE PAGE is a stand- alone novel as well as the companion JODI PICOULT is the author of to the authors’ bestseller, Between twenty-three novels, including the #1 the Lines, and is perfect for readers New York Times bestsellers Leaving looking for a fairy-tale ending. Fans Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, of Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot are Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle sure to appreciate this novel about with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen love, romance, and relationships. Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She also cowrote the #1 New York Times bestseller Between the Lines, the companion to Off the Page, with her daughter, Samantha van Leer. Jodi lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her online at jodipicoult.com. Seibert Elena by © 2015 SAMANTHA VAN LEER is a sopho- more at Vassar College majoring in psychology with a minor in human development. She cowrote the #1 Jodi and Samantha have four dogs: New York Times bestseller Between Alvin, Harvey, Dudley, and Oliver, the Lines, the companion to Off the for whom the prince in this story is Page, with her mother, Jodi Picoult. named. PRE-READING QUESTIONS eading. Think about a book that you have read and enjoyed. What madeR this book particularly appealing to you? What specific elements of the plot, characters, setting, or language affected you? What role does your imagination play when you read a book? riendship. Think about the people in your life who are your friends. How didF you get to know these people, and how did your friendships develop?What makes these friendships positive or negative? What are some ways people show you friendship, and how do you respond? What would you do if you were separated from your friends? scape. How do books or movies provide an escape from the real world? EHave you ever wanted to escape into the universe of a book or a movie? What do you imagine life would be like there, and how would it be similar or different from your real life? Would you want to stay there forever? Why or why not? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DENTITY LIQUES WhenI Oliver poses as Jessamyn’s son, CAs he begins to understand high Edgar, she notices slight changes in school cliques, Oliver wonders: him and warns, “It might be fun to “When you have so many people, change it up, Edgar, but don’t forget each one inevitably fascinating, why who you are” (p. 31). Later, James also would you limit yourself to only suggests to Oliver, “Maybe instead of those like you?” (p. 62). pretending to be someone you’re not, 1) How would you answer you should just be yourself” (p. 82). Oliver’s question? 1) Why do you think Jessamyn and 2) Why do you think that people James both offer Oliver (posing as tend to be friends with others Edgar) similar advice? What do who are like them? they mean? What examples from 3) How are you and your friends the text support your thinking? similar to or different from 2) How does Oliver’s situation lend each other? irony to their words of advice? Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards 3) How might you apply their CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 suggestions to your own life? Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.R.4, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONTINUED . PPEARANCE CTING ConsiderA the role that physical ThroughoutA the book, Oliver struggles appearance plays in the lives of with his role as an actor—first in each of the characters. For example, the fairy tale, and again when he Delilah worries that she’s not as impersonates Edgar: “I wasn’t pretty as Allie McAndrews (p. 86); expecting to be released from a Jules experiments with edgy style (p. book in which I spent every moment 7); Oliver exchanges his princely hose pretending to be a person I’m not only for “classic jeans, solid T-shirt, leather to wind up doing it all over again” satchel” (p. 85); Frump wants to (p. 29). appear more attractive to Seraphima 1) How does Oliver feel about acting (p. 73); and Seraphima wears jeans the various roles he must play— underneath her princess gown (p. 292). prince, son, boyfriend, drama club 1) What is the signicance of performer, hero? physical appearance in Delilah’s 2) What are some of the roles that world versus the world of Oliver’s other characters in the novel play, fairy tale? and for what reasons? If “all the 2) What do the characters’ physical world’s a stage” (p. 294), is it better appearances reveal about them? to be an actor or to be genuine? 3) How does the author use changes 3) In your own life, what roles do you in each character’s physical play, and how do they affect you? appearance to illustrate his or her Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards development? CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 OVE AtL various points in the novel, each ATE of the main characters struggles to OliverF tries to escape the fate written understand the nature of love. For for him in his fairy tale, in search of example, Delilah asks, “Is love really “a life that didn’t have such a rigid this hard?” (p. 92) and later wonders, plotline” (p. 9). But the narrator asks, “How come love is never simple?” “Reader, do you believe in Fate? Do (p 179). you believe that somewhere, there’s a 1) What are some times when Delilah, grand plan for each of us?” (p. 155). Oliver, and Edgar question the true 1) How would you answer the nature of love? narrator’s question? 2) How do their questions reveal their 2) What role does Fate play in the character development? novel, for the characters in 3) How would you answer their Oliver’s fairy tale and the questions about what love is? How characters in Delilah’s world? do you think each character would 3) What role do you believe Fate dene love by the end of the plays in your own life, and in the novel? Do you agree with one of lives of those around you? their denitions of love more than Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards the others? CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.R.3, CCRA.R.R.4, CCRA. SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 AMILY ISAPPOINTMENT NearF the end of the novel, Oliver asks AfterD a fight with Oliver, Delilah Queen Maureen, “I don’t think family asks, “Who would have thought that has to be related by blood, do you? having your dreams come true would Don’t you think family is the people suck so much?” (p. 84). who love you the most?” (p. 323). 1) Why does Delilah feel disappointed 1) Based on his interactions with other even though her dreams have come characters, who would Oliver true? consider to be his family? 2) What is the difference between her 2) How does your own denition of expectations and the reality of having “family” compare to Oliver’s? What Oliver in her world? are the different shapes that a family 3) Why does she remember the might take? warning “Be careful what you wish 3) Who are the people you consider to for” (p. 64)? be your family, and why? Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.R.4, CCRA. Correlates to Common Core Anchor Standards CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.R.4, CCRA. SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 SL.1, CCRA.SL.4 EADER REEDOM WhileR inside the fairy tale, Edgar OliverF leaves the fairy tale world in realizes, “Without a reader, a story order to be free to do what he wishes, is only half complete. Without a while Edgar takes his place in the reader, the words just sit on the page, fairy tale for the same reason: to waiting to come alive in someone’s escape his own reality in search of a imagination” (p.