This month’s FYA Book Club selection is Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1-2) by Ngozi Ukazu. Check out the discussion questions below! (Slight spoilers ahead.)
P.S. If you’ve already read the book, feel free to add any other discussion questions of your own in the comments!
Icebreaker
The hockey community can be its own strange little world, especially to outsiders. Have you ever been part of any subculture based on your hobbies or interests? (Aside from YA, of course.)
OR
What’s your favourite pie, and why have you not shared the recipe with the rest of the club?
Questions
1. In the author’s note, Ngozi Ukazu talks about how she fell in love with hockey after starting to research it for a screenplay. Were you a hockey fan before starting this book? If not, did Check, Please! pique your interest in the sport?
2. There’s a lot of hockey jargon that isn’t necessarily explained. If you were unfamiliar with it, did you find it hard to follow? Did it even matter if you could follow it? If it’s familiar, did it feel authentic? (Either way, “Hockey Shit with Ransom & Holster” is worth checking out.)
3. Bitty’s personality can be a bit much. He quickly won over the team, but did he win you over?
4. The romance is a slow, slow burn. What did you think of the development in terms of swoon and speed?
5. Do you have any favourite side characters? Whose stories would you like to know more of?
