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Book Club Kits: Finding Serendipity

Alamance County Public Libraries offer Book Club Kits for check out to area book clubs. Each kit contains 10 copies of a book and a reading guide.

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Angelica Banks

Angelica Banks is not one writer but two. Heather Rose and Danielle Wood are both award-winning authors of adult literary fiction and have been friends for years. They had much more fun writing this book than you can imagine and spent a lot of time eating chocolate custard and strawberries.

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Alamance County Public Libraries

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Book Summary

When Tuesday McGillycuddy and her beloved dog, Baxterr, discover that Tuesday’s mother—the famous author Serendipity Smith—has gone missing, they set off to find her in the place where stories come from. There, Tuesday meets the pint-size heroine Vivienne Small, duels with the hideous pirate Carsten Mothwood, and learns the truth about her remarkable dog. To save the lives of those she loves, Tuesday must summon all her wit, courage, and imagination. But how will she ever find her way home?

Discussion Questions

1. (chapter 1) Describe Tuesday’s life and home. What’s the most interesting thing about her family?

2. (chapters 1 and 2) What are the strange details around Serendipity’s disappearance?

3. (chapter 2) Explain what happens when Tuesday begins typing at her mother’s typewriter.

4. (chapter 3) Compare the place where Tuesday and Baxterr land to her home. Who else do they meet after their arrival?

5. (chapter 4) Why is Serendipity Smith home so late? What does she find? Why is she so worried?

6. (chapter 5) Describe the library and the librarian. List everything Tuesday learns from the librarian, and then put a star next to the item that you think will be most important to the story.

7. (chapter 6) Why does the librarian become stern with Tuesday? What does she expect her to do? Describe the food offered in the library? Which type would you sample? Why?

8. (chapter 7) Serendipity tells her husband, Denis, “I think that this is her story, and she’s going to have to find her way through it alone.” What does she mean by this?

9. (chapter 8) Describe what happened to Vivienne Small’s home. What was the cause of this terrible act?

10. (chapter 9) Evaluate the hypothesis that Tuesday creates about Vivienne. What clues did she use to make this educated guess about what had happened to her?

11. (chapter 10) How are things going back home with Tuesday’s parents? What are they imagining for her? How would your parents handle this same situation?

12. (chapter 11) List all the different skills Tuesday tries to learn in order to sail Vivienne’s ship, the Vivacious. What difficulties does she face? How does she try to tackle them?

13. (chapter 12) Explain how Baxterr was revived. What rule must Tuesday now remember about his name? What else does she discover about her beloved pet?

14. (chapter 13) Why doesn’t Vivienne know about Tuesday’s mother, Serendipity, her creator? Why does she seem familiar? What do the girls learn about each other? What plan do they create?

15. (chapter 14) Why do they go aboard Vivienne’s enemy’s ship, the Silverfish? What do they hope to find?

16. (chapter 15) Describe and discuss the series of events that makes things worse for Tuesday that her mother, Serendipity, begins on her typewriter.

17. (chapter 16) What does the evil pirate, Mothwood, plan to do with Vivienne and Baxterr? What options does Tuesday have?

18. (chapter 17) After Tuesday finds herself adrift on the Vivacious, what does she decide to do to help her new friend, Vivienne, and Baxterr? What tool must she use?

19. (chapters 18 and 19) Summarize what Tuesday learns about herself and her story when she visits the library once more. What comparison does the librarian use to explain the process of writing? Do you agree with it?

20. (chapters 20, 21, and 22) Evaluate the choices Tuesday makes to save Vivienne and Baxterr. What was surprising? brave? foolish? memorable? What would you have done in her position? In the end, why does Vivienne decide to stay in her own world? 3