Through the Looking-Glass book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Chapters 1 to 3

1. Would you step through the mirror as Alice does, or would the unfamiliar world make you hesitate?
2. How might reversed writing change Alice's confidence in what she knows?
3. When a commanding queen introduces strange rules, what would make those rules worth following?
4. What might Alice gain or lose by joining a game whose rules are strange to her?
5. How might losing her name change Alice's sense of who she is?

Meeting 2: Chapters 4 to 7

6. What could convince you of your own reality if, like Alice, you had to defend it?
7. How do you judge Alice's choice to help two brothers prepare to fight?
8. What does a quarrel interrupted by a crow suggest about how much control the quarrellers have?
9. How might backward time change what it means to help someone?
10. Is buying an egg meaningful if it stays out of reach, or does that defeat the purchase?

Meeting 3: Chapters 8 to 12

11. Would improbable inventions make you trust Alice's clumsy escort less, or find the escort more appealing?
12. How might a farewell song shape the mood of Alice's crossing into the Eighth Square?
13. How do you judge Alice's rebellion when her royal feast collapses into confusion?
14. What does Alice gripping her changing royal opponent suggest about the limits of physical control?
15. How does leaving Alice's question about whose dream it is unanswered affect your reading of her adventure?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.