Tell Me Three Things Book Club Kit

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum is the official August 2021 pick for the Peanut Blossom Book Club for Recovering Readers.

A copy of the book Tell Me Three Things is on the table.

As we head into Back to School season, many of us are prepping to send our kids back into the classroom.

As adults, it is easy to forget how challenging it is to be a new student at a new school.

I love reading YA books as a mom because they are a fantastic reminder of what our kids are experiencing, through their eyes, not through our more experienced view.

Whether or not you have kids, you likely have memories — both good and bad — of your high school years. It’s amazing to me how much we still forget about that time until a book like this month’s pick puts us right back in those shoes.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this month’s pick!

Peanut Blossom Book Club

This book club pick is one of the awesome books from our seventh year of book club.

We’re still going strong! Want to join us?

You can join our book club for free by signing up for my email newsletter right here:

What Is Tell Me Three Things About?

“With the perfect mix of comedy and tragedy, love and loss, and pain and elation, the characters in Julie Buxbaum’s Tell Me Three Things come to feel like old friends who make any day better. This YA novel is sure to appeal to fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven, and E. Lockhart.

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son, and to start at a new school where she knows no one.

Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

Read the full description of the book here.

Tell Me Three Things Discussion Questions

I believe the best book club questions to spark a lively discussion in your group help readers make personal connections to the story.

You can read about how to write the best book club questions on your own here, but hopefully these will get you started!

Question 1:

Tell us 3 things about you.

Question 2:

Did you ever have to move and start over in a new school? How did it go?

Question 3:

Do you find the statement “There’s an inverse relationship between your happiness in high school and your success in life” to be true?

Question 4:

Is it easier for you to talk to people in person or do you find it easier to connect online or through your phone?

Question 5:

What could Rachel and Jessie’s Dad have done differently to make the kids feel more comfortable in their new family?

Question 6:

Would you uproot and move your family for a new relationship?

Question 7:

If you were Jessie, how would you have handled the bullying?

Question 8:

Could you connect with an anonymous stranger (if you were 100% certain they were safe)? Or do you need to know who’s on the other end?

Book Club Party Menu

Since breakfast foods play a huge role in the plot of this month’s book and are even featured on the cover itself, how fun would it be to do a “Breakfast for Dinner” party with your friends?

You can make my easy scrambled eggs benedict family-style to feed a crowd. Add a big skillet of crispy breakfast potatoes for the side.

Or plan a fun Dutch baby cherry pancake with toasted almonds or keep it simple with homemade granola and yogurt parfaits.