Chapter #1:

• What do you think Sophie wanted when the boy that showed up was acting creepy? Do you personally think she did a good job trying to achieve it?

  • I think what she wanted was to escape and be safe. I believe she did was a completely normal reaction for the situation, but I think she could have ran across the sidewalk instead in order to be safer. I think this is a difficult time to think about what you are doing and be emotionally intelligent, but there are still ways she could have made her escape better.

Chapter #2:

• What do you think the person in the car felt when they almost hit Sophie, swerved, almost knocked a lamppost on Sophie, and watched her make the lamppost float?

  • I think the person was scared they would hit Sophie, hurt her, kill her, and have something be their fault. I think. They were then surprised and shocked that the lamppost floated and likely scared about what is going on but excited about what is going on.

Chapter #7:

• The elves are disgusted that Sophie eats animals while she feels nothing towards the food. Why do you think they feel such different emotions to the same thing?

1. I think it is that the elves were raised to believe eating animals was disgusting and worth it to be hated. Sophie was raised to believe that animals and plants are both alive, and we have to eat living things to live. The way they are raised influences their values which influences how they feel.

Chapter #14:

• Elwin the doctor says it is hard to think of Sophie being brave when she is holding a stuffed animal. Do you think it is emotionally intelligent for Sophie to hold Ella?

  • I think having the stuffed animal is emotionally intelligent. The definition of bravery is being scared of something but doing it anyway. She is scared to leave her family, see a doctor, and show people she uses a stuffed animal but does so anyway. That shows self-regulation. She knew how she would feel if she left her family, saw the doctor, and brought Ella. That showed self-awareness. I also think she was emotionally intelligent because she knew she was scared, she knew how people might think about her if she held Ella, her blue elephant, as well as how the elves would think about her staying with her family. That show empathy. She also was beginning to figure out the rules of the how the elves lives and figuring that she would follow the rule to leave her family but would have her own decision to not follow the less important rule of not showing stuffed animals. That shows social skills. She also knew she wanted to be a part of her new life while bringing a part of her old life. That shows motivation.

Chapter #15:

• When Sophie first meets her foster dad Grady, he asks her if she wants to pet the dinosaur, Verdi. Sophie feels conflicting emotions at this time. She is both afraid of getting bitten by the dinosaur and afraid Grady will think she isn’t brave. She decides to follow the second fear and pet the dinosaur. Do you think the decision was emotionally intelligent?

  • I think it was emotionally intelligent because she recognized both fears (self-awareness), thought about how Grady would think and feel based on what she did (empathy), thought about what the Elven society would expect her to do (social skills), knew that she wanted to not look bad (motivation), and consciously decided to follow the second fear (self-regulation).

Chapter #16:

• Sophie thought Grady was angry, confused, and afraid when she read the cypher he was reading. Since anger is thinking something is not fair or right and wanting to make it right, confusion is not actually an emotion, and fear is not wanting something to happen, do you think the ones that are emotions apply to him? If so, what is the definition describing. If not, what do you think he is feeling?

  • I think he is not angry but is surprised and scared. He is surprised because he didn’t expect Sophie to read the cypher and interested in knowing the reason why. He is also anxious (a type of fear) about what that reason is.

• Dex’s father Kesler is enraged by what Vika yelled at him about a bad match. Since rage is anger stemming from a childhood issue, what do you expect the childhood issue to be without having very much information yet?

  • I think he is enraged about how people did not like his marriage choice and are now putting this on to his son.

• Note: Sophie is right when she says that Edaline and Grady will never get over the loss of their daughter. Many things including loss are things we will never get over. These things happen to everyone. We can learn to handle it better and learn from the situations for the future, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this is a terrible event that can’t just be forgotten. Washers don’t really exist.

• Note: Inflicting is another new emotional ability like empathy, which is obviously based on the real part of emotional intelligence. It is interesting how they can artificially make people feel things when in real life it is impossible to control people’s emotions. There are still ways to manage them, which people often call controlling emotions.

Chapter #21:

• At the school Foxfire, it seems to be considered cool to hurt people they collectively hate. It is expected for people to seek out these people who hurt the people they hate. Do you think it is a good idea to do this? What makes it a good/bad idea?

  • I think it is okay to hate people but not okay to hurt people and make friends through it. I do not think it is a good idea to do this because I would feel guilty about betraying one of my values. It is not worth people liking me.

Chapter #22:

• Almost everyone chanted for Sophie to use a pink splotcher at the ultimate splotching championship. What do you think their motivation for wanting that was?  What were they feeling when they chanted? What do you think they felt when they both fell unconscious?

  • I think they do not like that Fitz is good at everything and know Fitz doesn’t like the color pink. They likely want to mildly hurt him to unite themselves together. I think they were feeling excited when they chanted and even more excited + surprised when both Sophie and Fitz fall unconscious.

Chapter #25:

• Sophie is trying hard to make Biana feel happy with her. What do you think she hopes to get out of doing that? What do you think she hopes to get out of your answer to that question?

  • I think she hopes she can spend more time with Fitz if Biana likes her, and she doesn’t mind having more friends. I think she hopes to spend more time with Fitz because she missing him from not getting to see him much, wants to talk about things she can’t talk about with other people her age, and does have a crush on him.

Chapter #26:

• Sophie breaks the rules, cheats, and then feels guilty about it. She decides to use her guilt to confess. What is another way she could have used her guilt? Do you think that way would be a better or worse decision? What makes that decision better/worse?

  • Another way she could have used her guilt is by hiding what happened and pretending it never happened, purposefully sabotaging her grades to make herself feel better without tellign anybody, or tried to logically convince herself what she did was okay. I think these are all terrible decisions, and she made the best decision using her guilt. They are worse because the reason people feel guilt is to make sure we stick to our values. If she does this, she won’t be sticking to her values and might end up doing it again if she did it once and got away with it. This would give her an unfair advantage over people who didn’t cheat. It is a good thing she felt guilty at all because otherwise she would’ve kept cheating and invading people’s privacy with nothing to stop her.

  • Note: the mood candy Keefe gives Sophie is kind of rude in my opinion because a lot of times we can’t just be happy.

Chapter #36:

• What do you feel when you see that Sophie’s adoption was canceled? What do you think Sophie felt? How are the emotions similar and different?

  • I feel sad that this happened because I like the characters Edaline and Grady and do not want them to not be Sophie’s parents. I also feel sad that this happened to Sophie even though she is just a character. I think Sophie feels sad that she just lost two families in a row, anxious about where she is going to live now, and bitter that all this keeps happening to her.

Chapter #49:

• It was considered appropriate for Sophie to not visit the human world even to save them. Why do you think the councilors made this rule? Do you think Sophie’s decision not to follow this was emotionally intelligent?

  • I think the councilors made this rule because they were afraid of the humans learning about the world and bring their prejudices into their world because they believe they as elves don’t have prejudices. I think it was emotionally intelligent because she knew she was scared for her family and the other humans (self-awareness), knew that the elves would feel contempt for her if she did it (empathy), she knew it was against the rules of society (social skills), she knew she wanted to save her family and the other humans (motivation), and chose to do what she consciously decided (self-regulation).