Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Wake the Wild Creatures by Nova Ren Suma

1. Wake the Wild Creatures moves backwards and forwards in time, revealing Talia's story in a nonlinear narrative. How does this structure contribute to your reading experience? How does Talia change in the years between her story's past and present? What do you think separates childhood from adulthood?
2. Talia describes memory as "a wobbly thing" (p. 94). How do different characters' memories compare to their realities? What makes some events lodge more clearly in our memories?
3. How does Pola and Talia's mother-daughter relationship compare to other mother-daughter pairs in the book? What values does Pola try to instill in Talia? What legacy does Pola leave for Talia? How do the decisions of adults affect children?
4. How does gender affect the way the Neves functions as a society? Do you think a society like the Neves would be possible to sustain? Why?
5. What role do nature and the wild play in Talia's story? How does life in the wild compare with the structure and laws of the world outside the Neves?
6. How does Talia describe the world around her? How do her descriptions make you think about our world differently? What parts of Talia's narration do you think are literal versus figurative?
7. Decisions in the Neves are made by consensus. What do you think that looks like in practice? What does it mean to live communally? How would collective decision-making impact the power dynamics of a group?
8. Talia overhears one of the women of the Neves say, "There's a reason each of us left. There's a reason we can't go back, and we need to heal from that" (p. 116). How do characters heal from trauma? How do other characters support that healing? What does it mean to feel safe? To create a safe space?
9. Talia states, "Once a myth is formed, it takes over the truth" (p. 203). What does it mean to believe in something or someone? What is the difference between seeing and believing? Between reality and perception?
10. In the end, Talia remarks, "The community may be dismantled, but I have everything I learned from them" (p. 363). Why is shared knowledge so important? How can you rebuild what has been lost or destroyed?

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