Texas contains many odd-named towns, counties, etc. Some of those names appear in The Acorn Stories and its spin-off, The Acorn Gathering. Did you catch any?
The stories “Echoes†and “Come With Me†both take their names from paintings, while “Survival†takes its name from a student essay. How do the themes and imagery from those internal, creative works affect the overall stories? Is creativity a theme in any of the other stories?
Which characters did you like most in The Acorn Stories? Why? Did any of them remind you of yourself or anyone you know? Are the characters you enjoyed most necessarily ones that you would want to meet in real life?