Thanks to everyone that has chosen Bicycling with Butterflies as one of their book club reads!

Here are some book club discussion questions to help get the conversation rolling (pun intended):

1. What did you know about bike touring before starting Bicycling with Butterflies? Have you ever seen a bike tourist traveling through your hometown? Do you think reading about one cyclist’s experiences will affect how you interact with bike tourist?

2. What part of the monarch’s ecology was the most surprising to you? Are there any scientific topics you investigated further, or any you want to learn more about?

3. Sara’s goal was to bike with butterflies, but she writes about many other animal encounters, including with bats, frogs, birds, turtles, walking sticks, skunks, tussock moths, etc. What was your favorite plant or animal that Sara encountered? Why do you think she spent so many pages talking about creatures that were not her focus?

4. Monarchs travel through three countries on their migration. How do political boundaries affect the migrants? How did they affect Sara’s tour? Did her experiences and that of the monarchs’ change how you see North America?

5. Terrain, weather, wind, traffic, lack of showers, scheduling presentations, and confronting “a broken planet” are some of the challenges Sara encountered? Were there others? Was Sara’s reaction to these challenges different in each case? For you, what would be the hardest part of biking with butterflies?

6. Sara recounts finding hundreds of walking sticks dead from car traffic. Do drivers have a responsibility to these insects? Would you consider lowering speed limits, building tunnels/bridges for safe passage, or other measures to protect animals?

7. How did Sara react to seeing the effects of climate change and habitat loss? How do you deal with these issues? Is there a right or wrong way to react?

8. Sara quoted Margaret Murie’s statement to congress in 1977 (page 112): “I am testifying as an emotional woman, and I would like to ask you, gentlemen, what is wrong with emotion?” Have there been times in your life when you were dismissed because you were emotional? Do you think Sara’s emotions got in her way or were an asset?

9. What are some moments when Sara blurred the line between emotion and science? Do strong emotions enhance or detract from her ability to be a scientist.

10. Where did Sara find hope as she was traveling? Where do you find hope?

11. Sara stayed with sixty-eight families on her trip. Would you consider hosting a stranger or being hosted by a stranger? How would her trip have been different if she had stayed only at hotels and campgrounds? How would her trip have been different if she hadn’t connected with so many monarch stewards?

12. Sara recounts a police encounter she had (page 120). What was your reaction to reading about race in a book about monarchs? Do you think Sara was correct when she said, “It was difficult to accept that my skin color was in part what made my trip feasible”?

13. Sara camped one night under a no trespassing sign. What rights do you think travelers (human and more-than-human) have to rest each night on their travels?

14. Sara trained her eyes to see the world like monarch do. Has reading this book changed how you see your yard, neighborhood, country?

15. How did you react to the end of the book? Did finishing the book make you want to do something for the monarchs? What have you done or plan to do to be part of the team fighting for their protection?

Email Sara to let her know how your book club went and if your group had any questions for her.