Curses, Kindness, and Growing Up: Book Club Questions for Six Crimson Cranes
Age: YA (14+)
Genre: Fantasy
Quick Review of Six Crimson Cranes
If your book club wants a high-stakes fairytale adventure, this YA fantasy is calling your name! It’s a beautiful blend of Western fairytale and Eastern folktale, featuring a cursed princess who needs to grow up fast, learn selflessness, and own the magic that will eventually save her. The sibling bond is particularly beautiful and will stay with you long after the book is closed.
Book Club Questions
How would you define Shiori’s flaws at the start of the book? What about her strengths? How do both evolve by the end?
Kiki plays several roles in the story. What are they, and how would the story—and Shiori’s growth—suffer without her?
The book showcases the bond between siblings. What was your favorite sibling moment in the book? If you have siblings, share a favorite memory about them with the group.
How you think Shiori being the baby and only girl in the family affected the siblings’ responses to their curses? Would the situation have felt different if one of her brothers had gotten her curse instead?
While cursed, Shiori is frequently mocked and/or feared because of her muteness and the bowl stuck to her head. What did different characters’ responses to Shiori reveal about them? Why do you think characters like Takkan and Megari took so readily to her?
Shiori knows she has a strong will, but she repeatedly tells herself that she also needs a strong heart. What does it mean to you to have a strong heart—in Shiori’s story and in real life?
For years, Shiori hates the idea of living in snowbound Iro, but after some time there, she finds it beautiful. What do you think changed her perspective? Has your idea of a place ever shifted once you actually experienced it?
Around the book’s midpoint, Shiori notes that she used to be like Megari, “young, and wanting to treasure every moment because [she] feared it’d be the last. . . . Now [she] felt older than the moon.” How did Shiori’s experiences force her to grow up quickly? Have you or someone you know experienced something similar?
With Raikama in mind, discuss how parents’ well-meaning but misguided attempts to love and protect their children can backfire. How did Raikama fix her mistakes, and how does this apply to real-life situations?
Despite Shiori snubbing him for years, Takkan notes that once he met her, he thought that there was a chance they could make each other happy. What do you think led him to that conclusion? In your opinion, what is necessary for two people to make each other happy?
If you were cursed to spend the daytime hours as an animal/bird/fish, what would you be, and why?
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