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 Printables
Get the full printable pack on Etsy, or print individual pages from Bingo, Discussion Questions, and Hosting.
River-and-pencil sticker sheet
Die-cut stickers inspired by a raft, a pencil stub, a notebook, a river bend, and a small Iowa road sign — for journals or meeting favors.
Included in printable pack
Favorite quote cards
Blank cards for the line that stayed: the Iowa name, the pencil sentence, or whatever your group underlined in a language lesson.
Included in printable pack
Character superlatives ballot
Vote James vs. Huck vs. Norman vs. Young George in categories that will start arguments, then tally out loud.
Included in printable pack
Book club invite
Printable invite with the kit's hook, the voice-you-think-in question, and meeting details.
Included in printable pack
Chosen-name cards
Small cards for the pencil-stub surprise touch, plus a blank side if anyone wants to keep the name private.
Included in printable pack
Review sheet
Likes/dislikes for the retelling, the satire, the last act, the ending's name, and surprise-to-comfort ratio. Room for a content-note check-in.
Included in printable pack