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He saw the lights first. Blue and red, flashing in a regular pattern. Lots of them, scattered south of the station in the parking lot, and he couldn't help himself.

Moss had boarded the train in San Francisco that afternoon expecting nothing out of the ordinary, just a normal ride home with his best friend, Esperanza. The train was crowded, plenty of people eager to get back home at the end of the weekend. They'd been lucky to find an empty set of seats near one of the doors. Moss had leaned his bike up against the side of the car and scrambled to claim the spot next to Esperanza. But then their luck had worn off. The train now sat motionless, caught between the Embarcadero station and West Oakland, where both of them were bound. Moss closed his eyes and sighed.

"We're never going to get off this train, I swear."

He looked over at Esperanza, who had taken her half of the headphones out from her left ear. Moss could hear the tinny sound of Janelle Monáe as he removed...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What emotions did you experience as you read Anger Is a Gift? When a scene made you angry, were you able to imagine how those feelings could become a gift? Which moments in the book made you feel hopeful?
2. Moss lives with panic attacks and other effects from the trauma of his father's violent death. How does he cope with his fears and flashbacks? How does his story help us understand the experience of being a survivor?
3. Esperanza's parents, Rebecca and Jeff Miller, are wealthy and white; their life in Piedmont is very different from that of Wanda and Moss Jeffries. The author writes, "Piedmont was full of people who liked to tell outsiders that they lived in Oakland. A certain amount of street cred came with ...