Savvy - Discussion Questions

I was having a tough time thinking up discussion questions for Savvy - the I got to the end of the book and, snizzle-snazzle!, there are some discussion question right there!

• Describe Mibs and her unique family. Would you want to be part of the Beaumont clan or not? Why?
• Describe Mibs's relationship with her parents and siblings. How is it complicated by their savvies? Do you think the inheritance of a savvy is a curse or a blessing?
• Savvy is told in the first person; how would the story be different if someone besides Mibs were telling it? Do you think changing the point of view would make the story better or worse? Why?
• Why is Lill Kiteley's arrival such an important one for Lester? In what ways was she able to help him change and grow as a person? Predict what the future will be like for the couple.
•  How does Mibs's relationship with Will and Bobbi change over the course of the adventure? Who do you think changes the most in the story? Why?
• Momma warned Mibs that "you can't get rid of part of what makes you you and be happy." What can we infer from this statement? Do you agree with her? Provide some examples from the story to validate her point.
• Using the phrase "This is a story about..." supply five words to describe Savvy. Explain your choices.
• When Bobbi talks to Mibs about Will's obvious feelings for her, Mibs realizes that it "made me feel too young and too old at the same time." Why does she feel this way? Have you ever felt this way? How does Mibs deal with these feelings? How do you?
• Mibs considers, "Maybe it's like that for everyone, I thought. Maybe we all have other people's voices running higgledy-piggledy through our heads all the time....I began to realize how hard it was to separate out all the voices to hear the single, strong one that came from just me." What can readers infer about her statement?
• Mibs thinks, "Then I remembered what Lill had said just before falling asleep in the motel the night before. You can never tell when a bad thing might make a good thing happen. I realized that good and bad were always there and always mixed up in a tangle." In what ways is this statement an indicator of Mibs's growth?

To these questions I would add a couple of my own:

• Do you know someone who seems to have a savvy?
• Do you have a savvy? Can you share it? Do you know someone with a powerful savvy?
• What is the deal about "growing moss in pickle jars"?
• How "real" did the story feel to you? More or less real than "Treasure Island" or "The Brixton Brothers"?