Dear Readers:

Are you reading The Talking Drum in your book club? Here are some suggested questions to get the discussion started.

• What message or ideas do you think the author was trying to get across?
• What feelings did this book evoke for you?
• Which characters did you like best?
• Which characters did you like least?
• Were there any moments where you disagreed with the choices of any of the characters? What would you have done differently?
• Did any of the characters remind you of yourself or someone you know? How?
• Did any of the characters surprise you? When? How?
•  How does the book’s epigraph relate to the plot of The Talking Drum?
• If you could meet one of the characters right now, what would you say to them?
• Which scene resonated most with you personally in either a positive or negative way? Why?
• Has anything ever happened to you similar to what happened in the book? How did you react to it?
• Share a favorite quote from the book. Why did this quote stand out?
• What do you think of the book’s title? How does it relate to the book’s contents?
• What did you already know about gentrification before you read this book?
• What surprised you the most about the book?
• What were the racial, cultural, gender, or socioeconomic factors at play in the book? How did they affect the characters?
• What did you learn from, take away from, or get out of this book?
• If you were making a movie of this book, who would you cast?
• If you got the chance to ask the author one question, what would it be?