READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay
Discussion Questions:


1. As a booklover and a nonreader, respectively, Bennett Reynolds and Samantha Gale are definitely opposites. They say that opposites attract. Do you believe this is true?

2. Sam believes that watching the movie version is a good substitute for reading the book, but Ben belongs to the school of “the book is always better.” Where do you weigh in on this debate? Are there any movies that are better than the book? (The author in me insists this isn’t true, but talk among yourselves.)

3. Sam’s best friend, Emily Allen, is a librarian and insists that listening to a book is the same as reading a book. Sam is concerned that it’s a less immersive experience than reading. How do you feel about reading a book versus listening to a book?

4. Ben’s unconventional upbringing formed his love of books, as they gave him an escape from the unpredictability of his day-to-day life. Are you a booklover, too? If so, what helped you to become one?

5. Food is how Sam expresses her creativity but is also the way her grandmother Vovó showed her love for Sam. It has given Sam a relationship with food that is an expression of love, but also a means of income. What is your and your family’s relationship with food? Are
there recipes that have been handed down from one generation to another? Are there dishes that mean love to you?

6. Emily, Sam’s best friend, quotes her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan (another fictional character), who wrote in her well-loved young adult
series that “the path that is most difficult is usually the right one to take.” Do you believe this is true? Do you think the hardest thing to do is usually the correct course of action?

7. Sam spends the summer getting to know her younger half brother, Tyler. Their relationship blooms as they recognize their sibling bond. What characteristics do they share? How are they different? Why do you think they became friends?

8. What is it that Sam has to learn about herself to trust that she is worthy of love? What does Ben have to learn? Do you think they are meant for each other?

9. If Sam and Ben had a sequel, what do you think would happen? How do you see their lives playing out together?