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Mr. Nobody tells Steve that he, himself, was replaced many years ago (227)

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Despite Steve's initial doubts about Theo due to the baby's imperfections and uncertain future, he realizes that he loves this baby no matter what.  Theo does not need to be perfect in order to be loved.

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I thought this was a good supernatural twist - spirits from another dimension reaching out and communicating with our world.

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I agree.  This was like a scene from a horror movie, especially when the larva was trying to get its mouth around Steve's head!

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If someone promised to save your loved from harm, know the costs like what happens to the old baby, the future of the new baby, but all you had to do was say yes as a form of contract. Would you say yes to have a perfect family?

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I was truly amazed when the PLASTIC phone rang, which had no wires, just two double A batteries. Then it was Mr. Nobody, and Steve started believing Nicole.

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I was purely disgusted when I saw that Steve was gonna be the larva's first food. I was just thinking how all the wasps are carnivores, eating other living things. The baby queen sounded big from the authors details.

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I was truly touched on Page 239 when Steve truly loved his brother and defended him by hovering over him, also when he tried to hide him under the towel. The baby only got stung twice.

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When the exterminator came to get rid of the Nests and the Wasps, Steve asked the exterminator if he had seen anything like it.  He said, "Maybe once, a long time  ago."  I can infer that maybe the exterminator is related to Mr. Nobody. The exterminator regrets working with the wasps, so that's why he is an exterminator. He wants to get rid of the wasps or any other bugs.

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"And we want a good orderly society.  That's why we make our babies so perfect.  Only a perfect baby can make a perfect society" (180).

The author's point is to show that society has a unnatural obsession with perfection.  If we're not perfect than society will fall apart.  A good example of this is the focus on political correctness and everyone having to tiptoe around words in case someone might be offended.  The slightest slip of the tongue and there is a tremendous backlash.

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"But I knew, absolutely I knew, that this perfect baby didn't care about our little Theo.  It didn't care about me or anyone else.  It couldn't, because it was so perfect that it wouldn't even understand what it was like not to be perfect.  It could never know weakness or fear" (179)

People try so hard to be perfect and we want everyone else to be perfect, but that is not realistic. Everyone has imperfections. This new baby would never love Steve because Steve was flawed. A perfect child would never love someone with flaws because he could not comprehend what it was like to have problems and fears. Everyone deserves to be loved for who they are.

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I agree with you on that and think the Knife Guy and Mr.Nobody are the same person because I think someone is always secretly watching, and he is very fond of Nicole.

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I thought it was very interesting that Steve had routines, and it made me think he is a germaphobe or just has OCD - keeping his hands clean. However, I feel bad when he talks to himself because he is embarrassed of his friend Henry.

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I completely agree because the Angel sounds awful. What are they going to do with the other baby? She implies she has done this before, but are people actually happy to have a replaced baby made by insects?

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Vanessa is asking about the baby and mentions " Lots of people have broken bits" (115). I thought it was strange that she is using the same word, bits, as the queen wasp did to refer to DNA or things that are wrong with someone inside. Could Vanessa have some connection to the wasp?

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In Steven's dream, he and the queen wasp are discussing swapping the babies, and Steven is questioning how his parents will react. "They'll just be so grateful. And it will be Theo. Just healthy. And before you know it, you'll forget all about that crappy little broken baby" (131). Harsh! This queen is no angel, and I don't trust her. I wonder why she made Steven say yes to the swap. Is it like when a vampire has to be invited in order to enter your home?  She hates the baby, Theo, and I think she means to do him harm.

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Steven is talking with his psychologist, Dr. Brown, and describing how he felt at times.

All in pieces...Like I had a hundred shattered thoughts in my head, a hundred glittering bits of stained-glass window, and my eyes just kept dancing from one piece to the next without understandingwhat they meant or where they were supposed to go (107-108).

Steve appears to be very troubled and this began before the baby was born. He has recurring vivid nightmares and what sounds like OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). One can see that he is having difficulty pulling his thoughts together and making sense out of what is happening to him.

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When Steven climbs the ladder to try and knock down the nest, an unidentified neighbor calls his parents. They said the person didn't speak good English. However, Steven reflects "I'd tried to be really careful and make sure no one was around in their backyards" (95). It seems strange that the neighbor would have the parents' phone number, yet he didn't identify himself, and the parents didn't recognize his voice. I wonder if this is Mr. Nobody, and he is watching over Steven and his family. Could Mr. Nobody and the Knife Guy be the same person? Is he trying to protect Steven from the wasps?

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Explain why Steve becomes upset when Vanessa confirms that she killed the wasp she caught to study?

"'Hated wasps.  Yeah, I do.'"  It wasn't the fact  that she killed it.  It was the fact that I already knew, because my dream wasp, the queen, had told me"(p. 81)

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"But this new baby, where does he come from?"
"Well, we're growing him right now, aren't we?  Right here in our nest, outside your home" (69).

Apparently, the angel wasp is creating a new baby to replace the current baby.  What will happen to Steve's little brother?  The wasp indicates the new baby will have the same name, which makes it seems as though a swap will take place without anyone noticing.

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Mandibles are the paired jaws of some insects and other arthropods. They are sometimes referred to as simply 'jaws'. They operate in a sideways fashion and are used for gripping, biting and cutting. The head of a social wasp showing the mandibles.

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I would not trust my dreams and believe them to be true. As the angel informs Steve, "Young people are much more open-minded. Your brains are still beautifully honest and accepting and supple" (76).

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"So you can make him better," I said relieved.
"Of course we can.  Be careful, though."  Her voice was softer, confiding.  "There might be some people who try to get in our way" (51).

I wonder if she is referring to the Knife Guy.  Later on in the story, he leaves a large knife at the family's door and this makes Steve nervous. Moreover, the father mentions that the neighbor had never seen the Knife Guy although he was coming around every week that summer (62-64).

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I do not like this Knife Guy. I think he could be evil based on the Steve's feelings towards him. "When he turned the corner, I realized I'd been holding my breath" (38). In this scene, the Knife Guy had stopped in front of his house because Nicole was outside waving to him. He didn't do anything other than smile, but Steve response indicates something is wrong.

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Would you trust a person that looked like an angel, that appeared in your dreams claiming they will heal your loved one? Why or why not?

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I also thought it was very interesting that they started receiving phone calls with no one talking before mom was pregnant; it was weird. But I think the calls were made by the White Angel because further in the story the calls stop, and Steve gets a message in his dream from the White Angel about his family and how they're going to cure the baby. It makes me think that this is not the first time this happened. The White Angel quotes "You are not alone." Steve thinks it's a message that things are going to be okay.

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On page 35 I thought it was very interesting that there was a white wasp. I agree with Vanessa that it might be an albino, but I  really think it's not a bug at all. I think it's a machine (bug), or spy sent to watch Nicole, the baby, and Steve from the White Angel.

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I thought it was very intriguing who Nicole considered to be her friends, like Mr. Nobody, and Knife Guy.  I wonder what makes her want to be their friends.

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"You know about DNA, don't you?...sometimes the bits get mixed up.  It's the tiniest mix-up, but it can lead to bigger problems.  People are very complicated inside" (24).

The "angel" claims that she can fix the baby's DNA problem.  She also says "People" are complicated, which indicates that she is not or was not a person.  Is she a premonition or a higher spiritual being?

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At first, I didn't think it was weird for the family to receive calls with nobody on the other end-just silence.  This seems like its just a prank, but it should not go on every single day; that is a bit malicious.  What stood out to me was when they changed their phone number and the calls continued!  How is that possible?  Is it someone they know?  When I re-read that section, I realized that the calls started right before the mother got pregnant with the new baby that is ill.  There is obviously a connection.

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"Her head alone seemed as big as me.  It was a bit like standing before that huge stuffed lion at the museum, except the mane and the whiskers were all light, and the eyes were huge, and the mouth never moved" (21).

Evidently,  Steve sees this image in his dream, and believes it is an angel that has come to help his baby brother, who was born with congenital defects.  He most likely thinks it is an angel because of all the light surrounding the creature and because she wants to help a baby in need.  However, one can infer that the creature is actually a wasp with its huge eyes and non-moving mouth.  Earlier in the book a wasp, silver and white that differed from all the others, stung him.  This could be the same wasp and perhaps she was trying to get his attention.