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About the The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar category
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0
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26
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June 10, 2026
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To what audience would you recommend The Magician of Tiger Castle? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
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15
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109
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September 27, 2026
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All in all, did Anatole's tamperings make things better or worse?
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8
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83
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September 27, 2026
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Princess Tullia has one brown eye and the other blue. Why do you suppose the author chose to depict her this way? Why do you think Anatole attributes different emotions or feelings to Tullia's brown eye versus her blue eye?
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9
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77
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September 26, 2026
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Does Anatole's experimentation on a prisoner seem ethical? If not, why do you think we root for him anyway? Does it make a difference that Pito agreed to them if it will help Tullia? How do these actions make us feel about him as a character?
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5
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47
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September 26, 2026
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Anatole drank a potion that enabled him to live forever. If offered such a potion, would you drink it? Why or why not?
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21
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168
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September 26, 2026
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When Pito is facing impending execution and Anatole tells Pito he's there to help him, why do you think Pito cuts him off, rejecting "false hope" (p. 32)?
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7
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64
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September 26, 2026
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When Anatole first asks Pito if he's in love with Tullia, his answer is, "How could I be?" The second time he's asked, he says, "How could I not be?” (p. 33). Are these answers contradictory? What does Pito mean?
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11
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81
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September 26, 2026
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Overall, what did you think of The Magician of Tiger Castle? (No spoilers in this topic, please.)
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30
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238
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September 21, 2026
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Anatole sees himself as a dignified, brilliant, and much underappreciated magician/physician/scientist. How much of that is true, and how much is self-delusion and boastfulness?
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6
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60
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September 19, 2026
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What did you think of the book’s ending? What do you think the future holds for Tullia and Pito?
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9
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75
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September 15, 2026
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The book opens with Anatole in the present day, but most of the book takes place five hundred years in the past. Why do you think the author included the first chapter? What does it convey that would be lost if the novel just began with chapter 2?
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8
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63
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September 12, 2026
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Anatole, Tullia, and Pito spend some time in a monastery. What do you think of the abbot's assertion that it is only through an ordinary and dull routine that true enlightenment can be achieved?
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9
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83
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September 12, 2026
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At one point in the monastery, Tullia tells Anatole that she fears Pito has fallen in love with her (p. 227). Has he? Or is it wishful thinking on her part? When do you think Pito and Tullia truly developed feelings again for each other?
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5
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46
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September 12, 2026
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After escaping the castle, Pito and Tullia ask Anatole what his experiments were about. He lies to them, saying he was working on a treatment for the Blue Death. Why doesn’t he tell them the truth? What would have occurred if he’d been honest with them?
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4
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38
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September 11, 2026
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Why couldn't Anatole tell Tullia about the memory potion? If he could have told her, do you think she would have agreed to it?
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3
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43
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September 11, 2026
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Tullia spends the night sobbing over her father's death, but the next morning, she tells Pito, “He wasn’t my father…He was King Sandro.” What did you think of this scene? Why did she mourned him even though she was a "disappointment" to him?
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10
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66
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September 10, 2026
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13-year-old Tullia tells Anatole, “Only peasants can afford to marry for love.” (p. 16). What did you think of this scene? Do you think marriages are still made for reasons other than love?
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9
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69
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September 10, 2026
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Anatole notes that during the Renaissance, perspective and symmetry were “essential” to defining a woman as beautiful (p. 15). In what ways have beauty standards changed over time, and in what ways are they the same?’
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4
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41
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September 10, 2026
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The author sprinkles little-known details about the era throughout novel. Did you learn anything new? What surprised you?
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6
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66
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September 10, 2026
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Do you remember reading Louis Sachar’s best-known novel, Holes, as a child or reading it to a child in your life? If so, are there memories about the experience you’d care to share?
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7
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58
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September 7, 2026
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