'The Plentiful Darkness' Book Club: Day 1

By: OwlCrate Jr Photo By: @lostinbookworld

Welcome readers, to Day 1 of our book club read-along for OwlCrate Jr's August book, The Plentiful Darkness by Heather Kassner! Get your mirrors at the ready as we dive into this spooky adventure!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 1 - 9 of The Plentiful Darkness, so make sure you read these chapters before continuing.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate Jr box! We’ll be selecting four winners this time around, so make sure you join in for every session!


The story so far...

We open to a creepy magician in a tower overlooking the town of Warybone. She is angry about every noise and seeks quiet. Heading down the spiral staircase and into the streets she hears an awful sound and decides that the streets will be quieter by one that night.

Meanwhile, Rooney de Barra is in an alleyway trying to catch moonlight with her lunar mirror, but having no luck. As the clouds roll in, she ventures out into Warybone, a Monty at her heel (Montys are the rats that live in the alleyway, but they’re friendly to her!) Even though she is likely to run into the roughhouse boys, Rooney decides to head to the highest place in Warybone, Thistle Hill, where it will be easier to catch moonlight that she can trade for dinner. She’s determined to someday catch Starlight, but that day is not today.

A sudden rainstorm has Rooney running for shelter under the eaves of a cottage, where she hears the most dreadful noise. Shockingly, the noise was coming from a violin! Before she could creep away from the cottage the shutters flew open and strike her on the head, causing her to yelp and be seen by the mother inside. Rooney flees to the far side of the yard where she thinks that the girl inside can see her, but for some reason she tells her parents no one in there.

A strange presence hidden in fog drifts close to Rooney and she flees up the hill, coming to a thorny patch of greenery near the tower where she hoped to avoid the roughhouse boys. Sadly, she is wrong. They taunt her (rude) and demand payment for her trespassing on what they deem their territory. They want her mirror (rude again!) The roughhouse boys make chase as Rooney flees, slowly losing them one by one as she makes it back to her alley and the Montys. Thinking she’s finally safe, it surprises her when Trick (one of the roughhouse boys) grabs the mirror from her hand and dashes away!

Waking up the next morning Rooney is determined to get her mirror back. She stalks the streets spying on the gang, looking for an opportunity. Trick spots her and taunts her by juggling the two mirrors. As the roughhouse boys wander away, Rooney spots a weather-worn poster featuring the face of the violin playing girl

asking for her return.

Later that evening Trick is sent on a mission to sell moonlight door to door and Rooney follows him, attempting to get her mirror back. Chasing his toward Thistle Hill, Trick veers into a deadend alley, but when Rooney goes to follow him he’s nowhere in sight. She sees an inky black spot on the ground and all of sudden Trick’s arm appears from it before disappearing again! Feeling a chill, a cloaked figure (who happens to be the magician from the tower that hasn’t been seen in over a year) appears at the end of the alley, telling Rooney that she has silenced Trick and gifted him to the darkness (ominous). That’s not good. She tells Rooney that she will also be silenced and Rooney makes the decision to be brave and go after Trick. She jumps into the darkness!

Rooney seems to fall forever before crashing into a pitch black river, a river that seems to want to kill her if she panics! Great. She slowly is able to make her way towards shore where her eyes adjust slightly and she can see the water beside her and the dark landscape around her. She accidentally steps on a little creature that scrambles up her legs and on to her shoulder. Monty! Up ahead she spots a faint light and discovers a lunar mirror on the ground! Sadly, it isn't her own. Using the faint light of the mirror as guidance, Rooney heads towards the dark, twisted woods, deciding that is where she will find Trick. But as she goes to enter a voice says "I wouldn't dare."

 
 Yikes! What a start! I cannot wait until some *light* is shed on the situation! 


Questions:

  1. Why do you think noise is so unpleasant to the magician?

  2. What do you think the significance is of the magician's  seamless silken scarf?

  3. How do you think you catch starlight?

  4. Who do you think that creepy voice belongs to at the end of this section?

See you again on Wednesday as we discuss Chapters 10 - 18!

Pick up your August 'Moonlight & Stardust' box and your signed exclusive copy of The Plentiful Darkness in the OwlCrate Jr Shop!