Mistakes Were Made

Why is Timmy’s detective agency so important to him? What strengths and weaknesses does he possess as an investigator? What ironies are both hidden and in plain sight regarding Timmy’s skills as a detective?

Discuss the book’s exploration of the power of childhood imagination. How is the importance of childhood imagination represented both through Timmy’s resistance to growing up and through the illustrations in the book? How can his powerful imagination act as a detriment sometimes?

Trace Timmy’s maturation over the course of the book. How do ideas of growing up and changing appear sometimes terrifying or undesirable to him? In what ways does Timmy resist the pressure to grow up, and how does this serve as both a strength and a weakness?