The Oregon Historical Society’s comic creator’s panel came with a comics show that had excellent interactive features, including several comic creation activities that fully involved my grandson and me. Who knew an actual superhero would show up?
Randy’s daughter, Sally, is as much of a sleuth as he is. How can he protect her as a parent when she takes the same risks he does? He is himself the counter example to every admonishment he delivers. How can you be the right example for children who aren’t…
Every profession relies on experts, especially criminal investigation. Think of Randy’s use of experts during the story. How did he validate that what he was hearing was the truth? How can you test what you are hearing on the internet and in the news? Is it good to have a…
Randy is confronted more than once in Fire Trap with bullying. When should you give in to bullying and when should you resist? Randy also experienced bullying in school. What can schools do to control bullying? How would you respond if bullied?
Randy uses Western Insurance money to fly to Los Angeles during his investigation. Was the time and money for the flight to interrogate Simon’s mother necessary in an age of Skype and every other type of electronic communication? Discuss how face-time matches up to phone-time. What are the advantages of…
Randy lies when he thinks it will keep the situation off balance and allow him to gauge people’s reactions. He finds this fibbing useful for solving cases, but is he letting the “ends justify the means”? Is “truthfulness” an absolute? When is a white lie white? When is it gray?…
Randy lets Sally help in his insurance investigation business by doing data entry work and he pays her. If you had a business and kids old enough to help in it, would you let them? Would you pay them or treat it as a necessary chore? Randy also insists Sally…
Randy and Arnie have different ideas about dating. Do you think they’re both honorable? Why? Or why not? If you are, or could imagine yourself to be a dating single parent, what are a couple of ideas about balancing interactions between dates and family that you would try to follow.…
Randy inherited a theater from his parents. He likes the theater a lot, but not more than being an investigator, yet he wants to honor his parent’s passion by keeping it alive. If the Vic was your legacy, would you sell it, keep it, or transform it? Why? Think of…
Randy Justice has ten personal commandments that he tries to follow to lessen the chaos in his life. Discuss the ones revealed in this story and whether you agree with them. If you could add your own 11th commandment to his list, what would it be?