1. Moss Trawnley doesn’t plan on getting fired from his job at the airport, but it gives him the freedom to join the CCC, an experience that changes his life. Have you ever had an experience where your life changed or you discovered something new about yourself because things didn’t go as you had planned?
2. After Moss and his father spend the night in jail, the justice of the peace asks Moss if he wants to turn out like his dad. Why do you think Moss chooses not to follow in his father’s footsteps? What might he have been thinking?
3. Moss lies about his age so that he can get into the CCC. Do you think this is wrong? Why or why not?
4. Moss joins the CCC with no idea of what he’ll find, or even where he will be going. What motivates him to make such a drastic decision?
5. In Montana, Moss discovers that he has a talent for deciphering complicated blueprints. What talents do you possess? How did you discover them?
6. When Major Garrett offers Moss the position of junior leader, Moss is flattered, but scared that he is too young for the job. What qualities do you think make a good leader?
7. After Moss goes against Compton’s orders and uses the CCC bulldozers to help the townspeople get to their livestock after the big storm, Compton takes all of the credit for the idea. Why do you think Compton does this? What might he find threatening about Moss?
8. What do you think are the most important things that Moss learned during the time he spent at the Cold Day Camp? How do his experiences at the camp change his future?

Chapter 1

“Yours, Maggie.” Mom pushed an envelope from the Herald down the counter where I was putting out bread for sandwiches.

I scanned the letter inside: “Now that school’s out . . .”

“It’s about things to bring on my first day,” I told her.

“You’re not still going?”

“I think so. I know it won’t be the same—”

I broke off because Mom, who’d continued to sort through the mail, wasn’t listening.

Unsettling doubt swept through me as I looked again at the letter from the newspaper, so businesslike, as though my summer internship were a real job. Which it was, of course, but this was written as though I were a regular employee instead of a high school student.

Mom, please! I wanted to say. I’m kind of alone here!

If Dad had still been there, he’d have said, So you’ve got some paperwork to gather, and then let me talk out my jitters one more time.

But Dad wasn’t there. He never again would be, no matter how much I missed him and wanted him back. And whatever envelope Mom had just opened had triggered an annoyed “Humph.”