1. A novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde

2.  The story that we are about to read has already taken place, and we are about to learn what happened  Chris Chandler, a reporter at the time, and since a novelist, is the person who has interviewed people involved to compile the story we will here  Extraordinary things have happened that make it newsworthy

3.  Chris indicates that there have been random acts of generosity and kindness  It all started when his teacher, Reuben St. Clair gave out a project, not expecting anything extra ordinary, just changing the world in smaller ways

5.  Reuben seems to have experienced a lot of judgement in the past and has seen basically the same reaction to his appearance over and over  It suggests that children get passed it and are more accepting than perhaps adults  Trevor seems curious, questioning, and genuinely interested  Reuben seems jaded and has had to harden his heart and soul; he doesn’t expect much from people

8.  Arlene, Trevor’s mom, hasn’t had very much success with men  She is a struggling alcoholic who has two jobs to pay for bills, including a truck she co-signed with Trevor’s father, Ricky  Ricky was in an accident in this truck and has not been found since – is he alive or dead? Will he show up later in the book when least expected or wanted?  He leaves behind an ex-wife blames Arlene for their breakup

11.  Jerry is obviously down on his luck, but he realizes he has only himself to blame  It seems that he once believed in God, but even that belief is diminishing.  He is faced with a day to day meaningless existence, though he hopes for things to turn around  He has put hopes in to answering an ad in the paper, though when he gets there as many as 50 people end up also seeing the ad

12.  Trevor doesn’t expect this many people, though some leave when they see it was only a kid who put the ad in  Others leave when Trevor comes up with the idea of writing why they deserve money to get a hand up  Jerry is the only one left at the end showing that he really believes in Trevor’s intentions and that he really does have hope

15.  Arlene confused to find Jerry in her house and wonders why Trevor would befriend this man  She becomes angry enough to visit his teacher when she finds out from Jerry it is a school project about “Paying Forward”  She is startled to find that Reuben is a big, disfigured black man, though she says she isn’t prejudiced  She leaves feeling ashamed because she doesn’t feel as smart or educated as Reuben

18.  Arlene returns home from work at 3 a.m. to find Jerry dismantling her car  She drives him back to the garage where he is working  Jerry tells Arlene about “Paying it Forward”  Once he receives his pay, Jerry proceeds to blow his money and his sobriety at a bar he frequented

19.  Jerry alternates in his outlook between being hopeless and wishing for things to work out  He’s seen and done a lot that would cause this pessimism and yet he looks for signs (the ad, the comets) that would give him hope  The fact that Jerry goes down the wrong path makes one wonder if Trevor’s circle has stopped there

21.  Hope  Salvation  Human goodness