1. Medina includes real-life victims of police brutality (such as Eleanor Bumpurs and Amadou Diallo) as the ancestors that help guide Alfonso in the afterlife. What do you know about these ancestors? How do their stories echo Alfonso’s experiences? 
    
2. I Am Alfonso Jones highlights the aftermath of Alfonso’s death for his loved ones. How does Alfonso try to help the ones he has left behind? How do they help him on his journey on the Ark of Souls? 
    
3. Take a close look at the graphic novel’s illustrations. How do the illustrators Robinson and Jennings use black and white to convey the novel’s actions? Besides color, how are other ways that illustrations are important to understanding Alfonso’s journey? 
    
4. Before his death, Alfonso and his classmates are rehearsing a hip-hop version of the classic Shakespeare play, Hamlet. What are the similarities between Hamlet’s plot and the events of Alfonso’s life and death? Are there other classics works that you’re familiar with that resonate with the novel? 
    
5. Although I Am Alfonso Jones is fiction, the story reflects a reality for far too many young people. African American youth like Kimani Gray, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, and Tamir Rice also died at the hands of law enforcement. How does the graphic novel humanize Alfonso? How might we retell the stories of victims of violence to emphasize their full humanity? Would you draw a picture, write a poem or story, make a song, or something else? What would you include in your creation?
    
6. How do you define justice? Discuss some examples of the injustices in your community. What do you think racial justice means? 
    
7. What is the job of the police? Describe the relationship the police have with the people in your community. 
    
8. What do you know about the Black Lives Matter movement? What are some other examples of political activism or social justice movements? 
    
9. What do you know about Harlem? The Bronx? Have you been to either of those places? If not, how did you learn about them? 
    
10. What is your perception of the American criminal justice system? What experiences have formed your view? What do you know about racial profiling? Police violence? 

Discussion questions adapted from The Seattle Public Library's University Branch Teen Book Club Blog

Other social justice themed graphic novels in the UB Libraries