Book Club › For club leaders › Chapter checkpoints › Persephone and the Seasons
Persephone and the Seasons: book club questions by chapter
Meeting 1 of 2
🦉 Persephone and the Seasons · meeting 1 of 2
Read: Part One, “The Meadow”; Part Two, “The King Below” (pages 1–6, about 5 minutes aloud).
Stop at the end of page 6, and don't read on: the next part is for next time.
- What was Persephone doing when the ground split open?
The story's answer: Gathering flowers in a meadow - Who have we met so far, and what does each of them want?
Listen for: Make a list together on the board; keep it for next time and add to it. - The part we just read is called "The King Below". Why do you think it has that name?
Listen for: Any answer that points to a moment in the part is a good one; ask for the page. - Stop here. What do you think will happen next? Write or draw one guess to check next time.
Listen for: Keep the guesses in an envelope. Don't say whether a guess is right: the next part will.
Meeting 2 of 2
🦉 Persephone and the Seasons · meeting 2 of 2
Read: Part Three, “The Long Search”; Part Four, “Six Red Seeds”; Part Five, “Why the World Has Seasons” (pages 7–15, about 7 minutes aloud).
Stop at the end of page 15, the end of the story.
- Why did nothing grow on the earth while Demeter searched?
The story's answer: Demeter was too sad to make things grow - Why did Persephone have to go back below the ground every year?
The story's answer: She had eaten pomegranate seeds there - What does the story say winter really is?
The story's answer: A mother missing her daughter - What does this story teach about love and waiting?
The story's answer: Even a long cold time ends when someone you love comes home - Look back at last time's guesses. Which came true, and what surprised you?
Listen for: Read the guesses out. Nobody was wrong: a guess that missed often shows what the author wanted us to expect. - The part we just read is called "Why the World Has Seasons". Why do you think it has that name?
Listen for: Any answer that points to a moment in the part is a good one; ask for the page. - Now that you know the ending, was it the ending you expected?
Listen for: Ask what in the earlier parts pointed to it, or pointed the other way.
About the whole story
- What does this myth explain, or try to explain?
Listen for: Many myths explain how something came to be: a season, an animal, a name. - Was the main character right or wrong? Was the ending fair?
Listen for: Myths are often hard on people; let the group disagree.
How these questions are made
The questions with an answer are the story's own, from its page in the library, each at the first stop whose pages answer it and where everyone it names has already come in. The rest are Peabody's, and name nothing but the parts already read. Nothing here is written by a computer model. The story's club kit has the short version for the leader (it gives the ending away), three facts and an activity.
Read it free: peabody.kids/library/persephone-and-the-seasons. Every child in the club can read it on any device, with no account.