Discussion Questions for Red Slider

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1)      What are the tulegs?  What are some reasons why the tulegs might be planning to destroy Turtle Pond?  Do you think that the tulegs are trying to hurt the turtles?

2)      After reading Red Slider, try to come up with a “people” word for the following tuleg things:

a.       Tulegs –

b.      Rumblers –

c.       Sharpies –

d.      Small wolves –

e.       Small bobcats –

f.        Rumbler run –

g.       Shiners -

3)      Benjamin offers Cleo a chance to escape to Turtle Pond with him.  In spite of their close friendship, she refuses.  Why does she refuse?  In what way is the relationship between pets and their tulegs different from that between wild animals and tulegs?  If you capture a wild animal, should you keep it?  Why or why not?

4)      When Benjamin says “maybe Red is just a state of mind,” what does he mean?

5)      Why did Jeremiah refuse to go across the rumbler run to Paradise Lake with Benjamin?

6)      Why did King Titus refuse to go with the other turtles through the dark tunnel to Paradise Lake?

7)      Who made the great prophecy of old stating that a Red leader would take the turtles to safety?  Why?

8)      On the cover of Red Slider, the phrase “A Story of Courage and Friendship” appears.  In what way is courage important in this story?  How about friendship?

9)      Benjamin has unusual friends – a frog, a turtle that collects tuleg “shiners,” and a spotted turtle.  Gorn teases Benjamin about the choices he makes in friends, and urges him to make “normal” friends.  What does Gorn think are important qualities to find in a friend?  How is Gorn’s idea of friendship different than Benjamin’s?  Who do you think is right, and why?

10)  At the end of the book, we learn that the tulegs helped Jeremiah and the others.  Why?