THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST AVENGER

1. What is the allure to Annie of the story of her great grandmother, Charlotte Wheeler?

2. What is your theory about Charlotte Wheeler’s ghost?

3. How does Annie begin to see her mother in light of the investigation they conduct into Charlotte’s past?

4. Annie and her mother, Carol Wheeler, search the attic for clues in the family’s house in Maryland. They find photos and letters and a Latin textbook. What could they find if they could avail themselves of a DNA kit like Ancestry.com? And how would they do it?

5. What was the contribution of American women during WWII?

6. Who was Rosie the Riveter?

7. Being a WASP was a very glamorous thing for a woman in WWII. What did they do though?

8. Why do you think Charlotte’s ghost appears in the house in Maryland? Is there evidence that she appears to non-family members?

9. What are your feelings about the roles of women during WWII?

• Do you think they should have fought harder to keep their jobs and lobby for equal pay after the war? Why do you think they didn’t?

• Annie and Ty go off to college. They’ve been together through four books. How are they compatible?

• There is a passage in the book when Annie and Ty are waiting for tower clearance to take off in the Piper Cherokee. The tower man says, “Give that honey next to you a kiss.” Do you think this is an inappropriate comment?

13. How much peril was Long Island and coastal U.S.A. in from enemy invasion during WWII?

• If you think the sabotage done to the Avengers in this book is a fictional pipe-dream, look up Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons”.SOME ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

• Do you know what your great grandmother did when she was a young woman?

• How could you find out?

• What did the investigators find out from the plane crash?

• Why did the plane crash matter after over 70 years?

• Did the kind of code Ty and Annie discovered inspire you to come up with your own code, enabling you to send secret messages?

• What was the most exciting part of the story for you?

• How would you describe Charlotte Wheeler and her buddies?

• What happened to Annie’s relationship with her mother as they investigated great gramma, Charlotte?

• What can old photos and letters tell us about our ancestors, and even ourselves?

• What did Mr. Wiedermeier tell Annie and Ty that helped them tell the story of Charlotte Wheeler?

• Why do you think Charlotte’s ghost was hanging around?

• What was the story of the Avenger in WWII?

• Were you surprised that spies had made their way into the USA during jWWII?

• Why was it so much harder for spies to do their dirty work in 1943 than it is today?

• Annie refers to her DNA and the family DNA in the story. What does she mean?

• How do you think what Annie found out during the course of this story affects her feeling about her family and herself?

• What do you think the future holds for Annie Tillery and Ty Egan?