Book Club Kits: Dying to Meet You

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Ignatius B. Grumply moves into the Victorian mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road hoping to find some peace and quiet so he can crack a wicked case of writer's block. But 43 Old Cemetery Road is already occupied by eleven-year-old Seymour, his cat Shadow, and an irritable ghost named Olive. It's hard to say who is more outraged. But a grumpy old ghost just might inspire this grumpy old man--and the abandoned kid? Well, let's just say his last name's Hope.

• Why is Ignatius B. (I.B.) Grumply renting the house on Old Cemetery Road for the summer?
  
  
• Does your family have rules that you have to follow at home?
  
  
• I.B. Grumply blames Seymour for things that Olive is doing. Have you ever been accused of doing something that you didn’t do?
  
  
• Seymour is saving up money to buy the house. Have you ever saved up money to buy something?
  
  
• How does Olive find out that I.B. Grumply is afraid of heights and doesn’t like green peppers or liver?
  
  
• Seymour’s parents wrote him a note explaining why they were leaving. What did it say?
  
  
• After I.B. Grumply’s date with Olive, he starts to believe that she exists and starts to act “crazy.” E. Gadds and Paige Turner think he has mental problems. Why do you think they think this about I.B. Grumply?
  
  
• Why does Olive storm away and get upset at I.B. Grumply after the newspaper interview?
  
  
• Why might the house be demolished?
  
  
• When Paige Turner informs I.B. Grumply that she has ended her professional relationship with him, she decides to write off the money that he owes her company. Why do you think she does this?
  
  
• I.B. Grumply understands when Paige Turner and E. Gadds cut their professional ties with him. Who or what caused his change in attitude?
  
  
• What causes Olive to come back to the house and be seen again?
  
  
• Why do you think Seymour’s parents want to bring him to Europe with them? Before the summer, they had no contact with him. What do you think made them change their minds?
  
  
• Who ends up buying the house to save it from demolition?
  
  
• Have you ever been to a haunted house or other scary place? Why did you go there and what made it scary?
  
  
• I.B. Grumply rents the summer house thinking it will be a quiet place to read, but it turns out not to be. Have you ever thought something would be one way, but it turned out to be the complete opposite?
  
  
• I.B. Grumply thinks that Seymour is “seeing things” when he talks about Olive. Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
  
  
• Olive explains to I.B. Grumply how he thinks he is the only person who has been rejected, when in fact, everyone, even Olive and Seymour, have been rejected. Have you ever been rejected by someone or something? How did it make you feel?