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madeleine kuderick
ABOUT THE BOOK
To fifteen-year-old Kenna, everything is a potential tool for self-harm: razor blade,
safety pin, a pencil eraser rubbed fast against skin. After she’s caught in the school
bathroom cutting herself with the blade from a pencil sharpener, Kenna is put
under mandatory psychiatric watch. She has 72 hours to face her addiction, deal
with rejection, and find a shred of hope.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Kenna uses the phrase “like the good little Baker Actors that we are”
(page 17) when she’s first brought into the psychiatric ward. What is
ironic about the words “Baker Actors”?
2. How is drawing an escape for Kenna in a way that cutting is not?
3. Why doesn’t Kenna want anyone to see her take the help paper during
her therapy session (page 57)? Why is she scared of the words coming
true?
4. What does Kenna mean when she says “my cuts are so much prettier”
(page 59)? Why does she think she’s not as deeply addicted as the
other kids in the ward?
5. Why does Kenna choose to hang out with Rennie’s crowd at school
even though she knows it means she has to cut to be accepted?
6. How is cutting like a drug for Kenna (page 66)? Why does she feel
guilty after she does it?
7. Why does Kenna ultimately choose the paper with the word “hope”
(page 68)?
8. How is cutting a competition for popularity among Kenna and her
peers, especially Tara and Rennie?
9. How do the internet and social media further influence young
people’s desire to inflict self-harm, like in the situation with Tara and
#cut4sid?
10. How does seeing the traumatized little boy locked up in the ward set
Kenna in motion to overcome her addiction?
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11. Why does Kenna think “it would be so much easier” (page 94) if she
had a reason for cutting? Why does she think not having a reason
makes her situation worse?
12. How does Skylar’s butterfly ultimately help both Kenna and Skylar?
How is Kenna’s butterfly a positive symbol for her recovery?
13. Why do you think Kenna turns to prayer toward the end of her stay in
the ward? Does it help her come to terms with her issues?
14. Jag doesn’t appear often in the novel; yet when he does, his presence is
powerful. How does his minimal interaction with Kenna profoundly
change her?
15. What triggers Kenna to flush Donya’s silver stud? Why does Kenna
say it “feels like a freaking train wreck” even though she stopped
herself from cutting (page 197)?
16. The novel ends with Kenna’s reflection, “I do feel like I have a choice.
Like a fork in the road or whatever” (page 201). Do you think Kenna’s
time in the ward was enough of a wake-up call to keep her away from
future self-harm?
17. Imagine the next 72 hours of Kenna’s life after she leaves the ward.
How do you think she feels? How will her family and friends react?
Will she be ostracized at school? Discuss the many scenarios of life
after being Baker Acted.
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