20 Where The Crawdads Sing Book Club Questions - TCK Publishing

Book clubs are a great way for book lovers to find a community of other readers with a variety of perspectives. Reading with a book club means you even get to discuss the book, letting you share your own thoughts and hear other people’s ideas as well. 

On the other hand, if you’re not yet an avid reader, joining a book club is also a great way to have some kind of accountability or push, encouraging you to read the required chapters before your next meeting. 

If you are looking for a thought-provoking, heartwarming coming-of-age story, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a great book club choice thanks to the rich themes that it introduces.

Where the Crawdads Sing Book Club Summary

Where the Crawdads Sing, which focuses on the story of a wild girl named Kya, is part–crime drama and part-bildungsroman, and set in the marshes of a small North Carolina town. Kya, abandoned by her family, has lived on her own for years and is known as the “Marsh Girl.” As she grows up, though, she starts to interact with people in the nearby town, attracting two young men in the process. 

But what happens when a well-liked man living in nearby Barkley Cove is found murdered, and the townspeople’s primary suspect is the Marsh Girl? 

Thought-Provoking Book Club Questions for Where the Crawdads Sing

Here are some questions to help you jumpstart conversation in your book club discussions: 

1. How does the marsh setting affect or shape Kya’s story? Describe how the setting functions almost as another character in the book. 
2. What was the series of events that resulted in Kya living all by herself in the marsh? Who were the people who could’ve taken care of her? What do you think would’ve been better choices for the characters to make? 
3. How do you think Kya’s growing up in isolation affect her? 
4. How realistic do you think Kya’s life in the marsh is? Do you believe it’s possible for a girl to survive the way Kya did in the book? 
5. How does Kya’s relationship with nature affect her worldview? Give some examples of how her observations in nature impacted her decision-making. (One example would be her conclusion about relationships from watching fireflies.) 
6. Kya’s intimacy with nature and animals is an integral theme in the story. If she hadn’t been abandoned as a child, do you think she would still have formed these close bonds with nature? 
7. How do you feel about the two important men in Kya’s life? How would you compare Chase and Tate? What do you think causes their differences: nature or nurture? What do you think they represent to Kya? 
8. What do you think about the speed by which Kya learns to read? Do you think it was believable? Were there any other aspects of the story you find hard to believe? 
9. What do you think about Kya’s decision to not return to school? How different do you think her life would have been if she had made the other choice? How do you think her experience shaped her view of the world? 
10. What is Kya’s relationship with Mabel and Jumpin’? What is it about Kya that draws them to her? What concepts do they teach her about the world? What do you think about Jumpin’s decision to protect Kya from social services? 
11. Which of the characters was the most influential in Kya’s life? And which characters did Kya impact the most? 
12. What does it mean for Kya to be an outsider? How does it affect her decision-making? 
13. What role does poetry play in the book? What role does it play for Tate and Kya? 
14. How is Kya’s concept of womanhood formed? And how is this concept affected by her observations in the marsh? 
15. What do you think about the clear lack of women figures in Kya’s life? How do you think she would’ve grown up differently if she had more female role models or female friendships in her life? 
16. How did you view Kya at the start of the book versus the end of the book? Did your opinion change, and if so, how?
17. Toward the end of the book, we learn more about Kya’s mother. With this information, how do you feel about Kya’s mother at the end of the book compared to the start of the book? 
18. How do you feel about the community’s ostracizing Kya for her being an uneducated and weird “marsh girl”? How do you think that perspective affected the way justice was served? 
19. What is your reaction to the result of the trial? Why? 
20. How did you feel about the ending? How satisfied or dissatisfied were you, and why? 

Download a PDF of these questions to print and share with your book club!

Leading Book Club Discussions 

If you are the person in charge of leading book club discussions, it’s always a great idea to prepare your questions ahead of time. Also remember to ask more open-ended questions in order to spark deeper conversations. Discover more thought-provoking book club questions that work for every genre.

Listening to other people’s different ideas about the same book can stir up areas of interest and thought that you may not have considered before. 

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

 

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

• How to Start a Book Club: 4 Tips for Success
• 16 Evocative Books like Where the Crawdads Sing
• 20 Best Book Club Books to Share and Discuss with Your Group
• 60 Book Club Questions for More Engaging Discussions

Yen Cabag

Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.