Mother & Son Book Club: The Real Boy by Anne Ursu Discussion Part One |

Today we’re kicking off discussion of the first book selection for the Mother & Son Book Club, The Real Boy by Anne Ursu!

This discussion will last for several days on this post, so don’t worry if you and your son have not finished the reading! Also, feel free to hop in on the discussion, even if you haven’t signed up to participate in the club! The second part of this discussion will take place in the next week!

First, a refresher! Following is the publisher’s summary:

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city saved by the magic woven into its walls when a devastating plague swept through the world years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow, who spends his days in the dark cellar of his master’s shop grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island. Oscar’s world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.

But it’s been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill; something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be enough to save it.

Now, for some questions to kick off the discussion! Feel free to answer any/all of the questions below! Also, if you have any other points you would like to bring up, feel free to do so in the comments below!

Discuss the world that Ursu builds. Magic saved the island from a devastating plague. Now that magic may not be enough to save it. A point my boys and I discussed in great detail is how important it is to really pay attention to one’s mistakes and treat them as lessons, to learn from them.
Talk about Oscar’s character. He’s faced great challenges in his life. Despite these challenges (and maybe because of them!) Ursu doesn’t want Oscar to have an happy ending handed to him because of his autism, instead because of the kind of person he is. Do you think she did this successfully?
Oscar is not a magician or even an apprentice, yet all of a sudden he is in charge, tasked to solve a tremendous problem. Discuss the concept of unlikely heroes. Have you experienced unlikely heroes in your life?
Magic plays a big role in this novel. We learn a valuable lesson in that magic doesn’t solve everything, that sometimes it is up to us to take responsibility for your actions. Ask your son: Has there been a time when they had to take responsibility for something they’d done, even if it was really hard to do it? Moms, how about you?

Realizing that these are some pretty general discussions, we’ll more into the nitty-gritty in next week’s discussion!