Book Club Questions

Maybe you’ve chosen Along Comes a Wolfe for your family book club or you sharing it with your reading group? Either way, we are here to help.

Below is a series of reading questions you can ask to help encourage discussion (a printable PDF is also available).

Other resources for available for parents and teachers.

Story Questions:

1. Who did you first suspect to be the killer? Did that change as you read it? Are you still suspicious of anyone?
2. When describing the killer, it says “A smile crosses his face” (9) before trying to kill someone. What does this tell you about his personality?
3. When was the killer first mentioned? How was he foreshadowed throughout the story?
4. How would you describe Tony and Charlie? What are their differences and similarities?
5. Why did Tony ask for Charlie’s help? Why did Charlie help Tony?
6. What is Charlie’s perspective of the world?
7. What is the meaning of Tony’s dream in Chapter 19?
8. Why did Charlie setup the meeting in the library?
9. How does Charlie investigate crime scenes? What are some examples of Charlie’s strategic thinking?
10. Why does Tony struggle with the word “dead” when referring to Sheri? Were you hopeful that she might not be?
11. Why do you think As You Like It was chosen for the play at the end of the book?
12. What was the motive for killing?
13. Do either Tony or Charlie grow by end of the story. Do either of them come to view the world or their relationship differently?
14. How has Gekas’s relationship with the boys evolved over the book?
15. Has Tony healed by the end of this book?

Further Discussions Questions:

1. Are you terrified of public bathrooms now?
2. What parts of this story made it a mystery? What genre conventions did the authors use to achieve this?
3. On the back cover, it says they are “definitely not the Hardy Boys.” Do you agree or disagree?
4. Who tells the story? Is there any particular reason that these are the characters the writers chose? What is hidden by choosing these characters?
5. The authors don’t give Charlie’s name until the end of Part 1 even though he is introduced earlier. Why do they do that?
6. Do you identify with any of the characters? Which one? Why? Do any remind you of yourself or other people?
7. The book is written in present tense? Why did the writers make this choice, instead of staying in the more traditional past tense? What effect does it have on your experience of the story?
8. How far would you go to do what you believed was right?
9. Do you think the book was too violent or mature for a Young Adult book? Do you think it reflects the world that teenagers live in now?
10. Some readers have said Tony’s family is too nice. Do you agree? Is there a reason why the writers have presented them this way?
11. The writers often debate how much Tony’s parents should discipline him. Do you think what they do is appropriate?
12. Who did you identify with during the search for Sheri? How did you feel about Mrs. Beckman’s moment with Tony at the end of the scene with the search party.
13. The writers have said that the city is an alternate version of Regina, Saskatchewan. Why would they say this? What function does it serve? Did you ever wonder if any of the fake places were based on real ones? If so, which ones?
14. What are your thoughts about the characters last names—Shepherd and Wolfe? Do they have any significance or meaning to the overall story? What does it suggest about the relationship of the boys?
15. Do you feel there was resolution at the end of the book?