Discussion Topic 1: After reading Ebeneezer's Cousin, facilitate a conversation about what it must be like to be a kid like Maria with a mom or dad in the military who goes on trips far away from home.

Related Activity:  Have your kids/students write letters of encouragement to the children at the closest military base to your house or school.

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Discussion Topic 2: After reading Ebeneezer's Cousin, facilitate a conversation about what it must be like for children like Maria who have a parent return home from military service with an injury.  Discuss what it must be like for the injured parent.

Related Activity #1:  Have your kids/students write letters of encouragement to wounded veterans and their families and mail to Walter Reed Army Medical Center or your local military hospital.  Bonus: Prepare care-packages for the family and include as well.

Related Activity #2: Have your kids/students hold a bake sale, garage sale, or run a lemonade stand to raise money to buy giftcards for families receiving care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or your local military hospital. 
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Discussion Topic 3:  After reading Ebeneezer's Cousin, facilitate a discussion about how much work it must take to train capuchin monkeys like Eli to learn to help people with disabilities.

Related Activity:  Research organizations that train service animals to assist the disabled.  Have your kids/students write letters of appreciation to the workers that train the animals.
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Discussion Topic 4:   After reading Ebeneezer's Cousin, facilitate a discussion about how much money and time it must take to train capuchin monkeys like Eli and other service animals to learn to help people with disabilities.  Discuss how many more people could be helped if more individuals donated to these worthy causes.

Related Activity:  Research organizations that train service animals to assist the disabled.  Have your kids/students hold a bake sale, garage sale, or run a lemonade stand to raise money to donate to one of these nonprofit organizations.

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