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“Not only does a shared pool help individuals make better choices, but since meaning is shared, people willingly act on whatever decisions they make… [people don’t] buy into their final choice simply because they were involved; they buy in because they understand.”

Narrator states that in her younger years she contemplated suicide on more than one occasion. She now worries about Stacy, who is growing up connected 24/7, as are all her peers.

Crucial Conversation: A discussion between two or more people where the results have a major impact on one’s quality of life and where stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong.

Ben is collecting water samples from nearby creeks for a science project, leading to one of the most coherent sections of the novel thus far in which the narrator laments widespread pollution and American historical tragedies associated with bodies of water, including the Gnadenhutten Massacre and the Sand Creek Massacre, led by John Evans, namesake of her hometown of Evanston, Illinois.

Ben is 11 and jealous that someone his same age was responsible for naming the planet Pluto. I think we turned the corner just before page 300 and are now on a new (second) day of the narrative. It appears to be breakfast time or thereabouts.

“If you and I want to stir up a resentment tomorrow that may rankle across the decades and endure until death, just let us indulge in a little stinging criticism, no matter how certain we are that it is justified.”

In another lion interjection, the lioness transfers her three cubs from one den to another while wary of the nearby presence of her mate.