On the next two tabs you will find all 8 Reading Group Guide Questions provided by Big Library Read that go with the title A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger.
You can join the discussion on https://biglibraryread.com/join-the-discussion between November 2nd and November 16th.
1. There’s a growing movement of climate fiction. Would you consider this book cli-fi? Why or why not? What role does fantasy have to offer climate fiction?
2. A central part of the story involves Nina’s attempts to communicate with her great great grandmother. What’s a time when you’ve struggled to communicate with an elder in your community and how did you deal with it?
3. A fictional app called St0ryte11er provides an outlet for Nina and a way for her to tell stories. How does social media affect the way we tell stories?
4. What was your favorite chapter of the book? Your least favorite?
5. How does the depiction of animal people compare and contrast to other depictions of shape shifters in popular culture?
6. SNAKE is part of a tradition of Indigenous Futurism. What do you know about this movement and how to you think SNAKE contributes to its goals?
7. What are your thoughts about the dual Point of View? How does that contribute to momentum and tension in the narrative?
8. The landscape and natural world (both in the human world and in the reflecting world) have a pivotal role to play in the narrative. How does the setting impact the plot and further the themes of the book?
Dear Reader,
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has often felt hard to find hope. Amid crises of racial violence and new COVID variants and burnout in the workplace, many of us have escaped into f iction for solace. In A Snake Falls to Earth, author Darcie Little Badger doesn’t shy away from the crises that we’re facing, whether it’s climate change or the language loss faced by Indigenous communities under colonization. But for Darcie, hope is always somewhere to be found.
“There’s this sense of almost fatalism, that the world is going to end,” she says. “The way I think about it is: maybe. But my responsibility is to fight for the best version of the future that I can.”
The book follows Oli and Nina, two very different people in very different circumstances — Oli, a cottonmouth snake from the Reflecting World where animal people roam and Nina, a teenage Lipan Apache girl in our world. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.
Darcie, who holds a PhD in oceanography and worked as a scientific editor before writing full-time, incorporates things she learned as a scientist into her work and finds hope and solace in the natural world. “It’s difficult for me to even write fantasy without acknowledging the cool, interesting, and beautiful things about the world we live in,” she says.
We hope you enjoy Nina and Oli’s story, and that it brings you some hope in this world that can feel so despondent. If you feel so moved, feel free to tag us on social media @LevineQuerido.
Cheers,
Team Levine Querido
Here is the PDF copy of the Discussion Guide and Letter from the Author