SPOILER ALERT: Following are questions to aid group discussions of GIANT SLAYERS. The questions may reveal elements of the plot and give parts of the storyline away.

1.       Discuss the title of the book, Giant Slayers, and its significance in the story. List how you are a Giant Slayer or how you can be. Take time out to thank the Giant Slayers in your life. 

2.       Explain how the theme of missing parents (due to neglect or death) plays out in the story. List as many characters as you can who have a missing parent. Discuss the overall impact this has on a community. 

3.       Renee ends up severing her relationship with Matthew. In your estimation, is this an indication of her internal growth or proof that she hasn’t experienced much growth at all? Select passages from the book that support your conclusion and explain in detail how it does. 

4.       Do you think Tony should serve jail time? How will Tony’s incarceration or lack of it help and harm him in the long run? 

5.       Does Evelyn’s ghostly visitations with Jazz help bolster or diminish your confidence in Jazz as a credible and reliable source of support for Tony and T? 

6.       When Jazz realizes the ‘boy’ Evelyn’s ghost has been referring to is in fact Tony, not T, does the word boy become offensive or endearing? Explain. 

7.       Whose side did you take when Leticia and Carl fought over Carl being excluded from Renee’s birthday party? Select someone with an opposing view, and defend your stance. Then swap arguments, each of you making a convincing counter-argument to your true stance. Does this give you a better understanding of the opposing view? 

8.       Do you think Leticia and Carl’s relationship can grow and flourish in Chainey Fields? Do you think having children will make them more accepted or rejected by the community? This story was initially published in 1999. From your own personal experience, explain how things would be different for them today, a decade later, in light of Barack Obama’s presidency. 

9.       How do you think Brad’s experience in a predominantly African American community will impact his business making decisions once he owns his own engineering firm (take into consideration sexual preference as well as race)? In the long run, do you think Brad’s public beating hurt Brad or the Chainey Field’s community more? 

10.    Pastor Roberts states that he works on the spiritual man while David deals with the mental man. Whose job do you think is easier and why? Which job would you prefer and why? 

11.    Discus in detail whether or not knowledge of his wife’s affairs would make Frederick’s life better or worse? Do you suspect he already knows Felicia is cheating? Do you believe Felicia loves Frederick in spite of her cheating? 

12.    In the beginning of the story, Taylor questions the senseless death of a child’s mother. In the end, when she realizes T is that same child, what conclusions do you think she draws from her discovery? Does this bring her better understanding or increase her confusion? Explain. 

13.    What is the significance of Mama Jenny’s introduction of T by his full name to the community during the celebration at the end of the story? What parallels can be drawn between this and David’s reclaiming of his middle family name, Freeman?