Welcome, readers! Before we dive into this week’s book club conversations, I thought I’d answer a couple of questions about how the book club works.
- “How do I sign up?” No need to sign up! The book club is open to anyone who wants to pop in and participate at any point this year.
- “How do I participate?” Every Monday I’ll let you know what chapters we’re reading during the upcoming week, and on Fridays I’ll post an excerpt or other activity right here on the blog. You’re welcome to chime in right here in the blog comments. We also have a discussion forum, and you’re welcome to post new threads or respond to existing ones.
- “How does the forum work?” The forum is divided up into subforums, which is where all the conversations happen. For right now most of our conversations will happen in the Book One subforum, but there are also subforums for the other books, for the whole series, for the animated series, for Wingfeather Tales, and for other conversations. Some of the discussions started a long time ago, but you are welcome to post anywhere.
Please let me know if there are any other questions! I want to make sure everything is clear. Sorry for any confusion. Now, onward to this week’s excerpt!
I really enjoy the introductions, and the last two paragraphs of the first one especially stood out to me this time around. If you’ve seen the animated short film, you’ll probably hear these words in Oskar’s cheerful and dramatic voice. He is such a good reader. 🙂 Here is the entirety of “A Brief Introduction to the World of Aerwiar.”
The old stories tell that when the first person woke up on the first morning in the world where this tale takes place, he yawned, stretched, and said to the first thing he saw, “Well, here we are.” The man’s name was Dwayne, and the first thing he saw was a rock. Next to the rock, though, was a woman named Gladys, whom he would learn to get along with very well. In the many ages that followed, that first sentence was taught to children and their children’s children and their children’s parents’ cousins and so on until, quite by accident, all speaking creatures referred to the world around them as Aerwiar.
On Aerwiar there were two main continents divided by one main ocean called the Dark Sea of Darkness. By the Fourth Epoch, the harsh land east of the sea had come to be known as Dang and has little to do with this tale (except for the Great Evil that came to exist there and waged a Great War on pretty much everybody).
That evil was a nameless evil, an evil whose name was Gnag the Nameless. He ruled from high atop the Killridge Mountains in the Castle Throg, and of all the things Gnag despised in Aerwiar, he most hated the High King Wingfeather of the Isle of Anniera. For some reason no one could guess, Gnag and his wretched hordes had marched westward and gobbled up the Shining Isle of Anniera, where fell the good king, his house, and his noble people.
Unsatisfied, the Nameless Evil (named Gnag) built a fleet that bore his monstrous army westward across the Dark Sea of Darkness to the continent of Skree. And he ravaged that wide land, nine long years before our adventure begins.
Discussion:
Where are you in your family? Oldest? Youngest? Middle? Have you ever felt like Janner does in chapters 3-5?
Janner wants to see the world. If you could go anywhere, where would you go? (Followup question here.)
What was your favorite part of this week’s reading? Post it in the comments! And then come introduce yourself in the forum. 🙂
Ok, on to discussion questions- I’m the 2nd of 4 kids in my family, but I am bossy enough to be the oldest. Even though I’m 2nd, I actually think I have more in common with Janner than with Tink as far as personality goes. And yes, there were times when I felt that being responsible for other people was a burden, but there have been other times when I have found it really helpful… but I will save that discussion for later on, in book 2. 🙂
I change my mind about where I would like to go regularly, but right now I am interested in visiting Greece and helping dig up something ancient. I would also love to visit Turkey someday. I planned a dream trip there once for no good reason, and after imagining going, I would love to make it real. But not today. Today I will stay home and rest.
Just as I change my mind about where I want to go, I also change my mind about my favorite parts in these books. There are just so many good bits to choose from. But today I think my favorite is this part from the end of chapter 1, after Janner hears the Black Carriage. Sometimes little things matter a lot. “Janner realized that he’d been holding his breath, and he let it out slowly. He heard Nugget’s tail thump against the wall and felt much less alone knowing that the little dog was awake with him.”
That little tail-thump gets me too.
Yes! It’s incredible how so few words can create such a vivid mental picture. Maybe becasue it leaves room for personal memories and experiences to fill in the gaps. The tail thumping and comfort that comes with it is the sort of thing that I never think about when it’s happening, but the feelings are renewed and brought to the foreground when I read it.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember a specific time that I have heard it in real life. It just has that “real life” quality to it.
Nicely done Mr. Peterson