Explore how Kate and Tam each respond to peer pressure as they come of age. How do their classmates’ opinions and behaviors influence how Kate and Tam see themselves? Consider how the “Alex, Alyx, Alexx” poems represent or function as peer surveillance.

Analyze the poetic forms used to tell Kate’s and Tam’s intersecting storylines. How do the poems function differently from typical prose storytelling, and how does Holt use the poems to enact the evolution of the characters’ relationship?

Explore the relationship between Kate and Tam’s queer identities and the novel’s unconventional narrative and linguistic forms. Consider how the atypical narrative structure mirrors their atypical coming-of-age journeys.

Identify three symbols not explored in the guide and explore their relevance to the narrative themes. For example, what might the photos of Tam and Kate, Tam’s house, and the food fight represent, and how do they advance the novel’s explorations of perfection, identity, and safety?

Compare and contrast Kate’s and Tam’s home lives. How do these domestic and familial spheres relate to the characters’ individual and overlapping coming-of-age experiences?

Analyze Redwood and Ponytail in the context of other contemporary LGBTQ MG fiction. How do Holt’s explorations of queer identity align with or diverge from those in Gia Gordon’s The Redemption of Daya Keane, Michael Thomas Ford’s Every Star That Falls, or Jas Hammonds’s We Deserve Monuments?

Explore the role of micro and macro settings throughout the novel. How do settings like Tam’s house, Kate’s house, the school, the gym, or the tree impact Kate and Tam differently? What does each setting offer them, or how might these settings inhibit them? How are the characters’ emotional experiences reflected in the mood of each setting?

Imagine that Kate and Tam switched moms. How do you think each character would respond to having a different maternal role model? Would Kate’s and Tam’s journeys toward self-acceptance elapse differently under a different parental influence? Include quotations from the text.