Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Inkheart.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About This Books
Mortimer is a bookbinder and has passed on his great love of books
to his daughter Meggie, but he has never read aloud to her. When a
stranger named Dustfinger appears at their home, Meggie's world
turns upside down. She soon learns some startling truths about
her mother's disappearance nine years earlier, and the mysterious
book called
Inkheart that her father tries desperately to
hide at the book-filled home of Elinor, Meggie's great aunt. She
learns that the reason Mo has never read aloud to her is because
he has a secret, mysterious, dangerous gift when he reads aloud,
objects and characters come out of the books a skill he
discovered when Capricorn, the dark villain of
Inkheart,
came into the world when Meggie was three. Teresa, Meggie's
mother, disappeared at the same time, presumably into the story.
Capricorn uses Dustfinger, who is another character from the
story, to lure Mo and Meggie to his hideout village; there Meggie
sees a demonstration of her father's reading skill when he brings
gold treasure out of
Treasure Island and a young Arab boy
out of the
Arabian Nights. When Dustfinger learns
Capricorn's true plans, he helps Mo, Meggie, and Elinor escape
over the hills. Mo searches out Fenoglio, the author of the book,
and together they devise a plan to foil Capricorn's terrible
schemes. But Meggie is recaptured along with Fenoglio, and
Capricorn discovers that she, too, has the same magical gift. In
a rousing finish, Fenoglio and Meggie find a way to foil
Capricorn's plans with surprising results.
Discussion Points
Characters
- Why does Mo keep his ability a secret from Meggie? Why has
he never told her the truth about her mother?
- Why doesn't Dustfinger read the ending of the story when he
has the chance in Meggie's bedroom? What stops him?
- Does Elinor like books more than people? Has she truly been
happy living alone with all her books? How does Elinor change in
the course of the story, and what causes her to change?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Scholastic.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.