1

It starts and ends with the knife. I find it in the garden. I'm with Max Woods. We're messing about, digging for treasure, like we did when we were little kids. As always there's nothing but stones and roots and dust and worms. Then there it is, just below the surface, a knife with a wooden handle in a leather sheath. I lever it out of the earth. The curved blade's all tarnished, the handle's filthy, the sheath's blackened and stiff and starting to rot away.

I laugh in triumph.

"Treasure at last!"

"Huh!" says Max. "It's just an old pruning knife."

"Course it's not! It's from the ancient Romans or the reivers. It's a weapon of war!"

I hold it up towards the sun.

"I name thee... Death Dealer!" I say.

Max mutters under his breath and rolls his eyes. I stab the knife into the earth to clean. I wipe it on the grass. I spit on it and rub it. I pick up a stone and try to sharpen it.

Then a bird flutters onto the grass six feet away.

"Hello, crow," I say.

"It's a raven, townie," says Max. He imitates ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Begin a discussion regarding the major themes in the story, such as abandonment, violence, brutality, war, loss of innocence, resilience, the nature of art, fate, and truth. Challenge students to describe and discuss passages from the book that present these themes. Discuss how particular characters are associated with the themes.
   


2. The first line of Raven Summer reads: "It starts and ends with the knife." The knife is just one symbol that appears in this story. Discuss other examples of symbolism (the raven, Nattrass, fighter jets, skin, the snakes in the pit, Allison) and what they represent. Discuss how the author uses these and other symbols to convey the story's major themes.
   


3. Discuss how Liam grapples with feelings of ...