Book Club Discussion Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. How would you characterize the relationship between Sheila and Angie? In what ways are they different, and are there ways in which they are the same?
2. How do the many communities surrounding them—both the people they encounter at school and elsewhere, and the plants and animals of the mountain on which they live—impact Sheila and Angie? What does this book have to say about the ways our surroundings can shape who we are?
3. What role does the mountain itself play in Smothermoss? How did author Alisa Alering make the world of the mountain come to life on the page?
4. Did you think the rope around Sheila's neck was real, imagined, or somewhere in between? Why do you think Alering created this image?
5. Who would you say is the most powerful character in this book? Are there ways in which different characters hold different types of power?
6. What did you make of the boy with the red spot in his eye? Did your opinion of him change over the course of the novel?
7. If you could have any one of Angie's monster cards, which would you choose? Why do you think these cards are so important to her?
8. In what ways do you think Sheila and Angie's lives will be—or already are—similar to their mother's or the old woman's? In what ways will they be different?
9. Both Sheila and Angie confront fears of theirs over the course of the novel. What does it mean, in the context of this story, to be brave?
10. How, by book's end, do you think Sheila and her sister have changed?
11. What do you think is next for these sisters?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Tin House Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.