Literary Fiction · Free kit
James
Enslaved in Hannibal, Missouri, the man the town calls Jim overhears that Miss Watson means to sell him downriver — and decides he will not be separated from his wife, Sadie, and his daughter, Lizzie. Percival Everett's 2024 retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows that flight in Jim's own voice: a secretly literate, bitterly funny narrator who performs the dialect white people expect, then drops it the second they are gone. Raft, flood, con men, and a minstrel troupe carry him down the Mississippi as rumor of war gathers. What he wants is a pencil, a name of his own, and a way back to the people he loves. Winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
“I am a sign. I am your future. I am James.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
James Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting James.
Invite hook
“The man the town calls Jim has been performing a voice that keeps him alive. Then he hears he is about to be sold. Percival Everett retells Huckleberry Finn from the other boat — and asks who gets to name himself.”
The question you’re arguing about: If the voice that keeps you safe is not the voice you think in, which one is yours?
Shopping list
- □Cornbread (the language-lesson line, baked with butter or oil — keep it simple and plentiful)
- □Sweet tea, lemonade, coffee, and sparkling water — river-town drinks, easy to pour
- □Fried catfish or a lemon-herb fish platter, plus a pot of collard greens seasoned with onion, garlic, and smoked paprika
- □Peach cobbler or pecan bars, and a bowl of fresh fruit
- □A printed Mississippi River map as a table runner, plus a stack of cheap notebooks
- □A jar of short pencil stubs (one per guest) and index cards
- □A door card with a content note: slavery, racial violence, assault — skip or pause as needed
- □Printed bingo cards, trivia slips, and extra pens
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome with sweet tea, lemonade, or coffee; guests pick up a pencil stub and do icebreakers (voices, names — no plot)
- 10–20 minTrivia warm-up — start easy with Hannibal, Miss Watson, and Jackson Island; save the riverboat for after discussion
- 20–60 minMain discussion: the language lessons, Young George's pencil, the minstrel camp, the swim, Hopkins, Graham farm, 'Just James'
- 60–75 minSpeed debate: Was choosing Huck over Norman fatherhood or betrayal? Keep a timer; this one will steal overtime
- 75–90 minBingo leftover squares, rate the book in one word, vote on next month
Surprise touch
Leave a short pencil stub and a blank card at each seat. Mid-evening, ask guests to write the name they would choose if they had to name themselves — first name only, optional last. Share only if they want. It is cheap, specific to Young George's stub and the Iowa last page, and it lets people touch the book's claim — 'I wrote myself into being' — without performing the hardest scenes out loud.
Wrap-up
- □Group photo with the river map and the pencil stubs as the prop
- □Quick rating: 1–5 stars and one word each (try to ban powerful — make them work)
- □Vote on next month's book together — some groups will want air after this one