Shelterwood

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Olive and Valerie both find solace and healing in natural spaces despite the dangers they face there. What natural environments have provided you with a sense of refuge or renewal in your own life?

2. The children in Shelterwood demonstrate remarkable resilience by creating their own community and governance system when abandoned by adults. Compare this to other depictions of how makeshift children’s communities develop their own survival strategies, like Jeannette Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle, Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth, or Lydia Millet’s A Children’s Bible. Which aspects of children’s resourcefulness resonated with you most?

3. Mrs. Grube defies her husband to attend a political rally and support Kate Barnard’s activism. Have you ever had to choose between conforming to expectations and standing up for something you believed in? How did that experience shape you?

4. Storytelling appears as a motif throughout the novel, from Sydney’s reputation for telling tales to the legends of the Dewy Trees and the elf children. How do stories function in your life—do they serve as protection, connection, or some other purpose?

5. Valerie struggles with balancing her role as a mother and her professional responsibilities as a park ranger, particularly when investigating dangerous situations. If you’ve had to balance family safety with professional duties, how did you navigate that tension?

6. Both Olive and Valerie are inspired by strong women who came before them—Olive by Kate Barnard and Valerie by female activists like Gertrude Bonnin. Who are the historical or contemporary figures that have inspired your own sense of purpose or direction?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel explores how the Dawes Commission and guardianship laws were exploited to steal land from Choctaw children and other Indigenous peoples. How does this historical context shed light on contemporary issues of exploitation and land rights for Indigenous communities?

2. In the 1990 timeline, there’s significant tension between the National Park Service and locals who resent the loss of logging and resource access. How does this conflict reflect broader tensions between conservation efforts and economic interests in rural communities? How does this clash compare to similar tensions in recent history? 

3. Female political activism evolves throughout the novel, from Kate Barnard’s groundbreaking role as Oklahoma’s first female elected official to Olive/Budgie’s career in state politics. How does the novel portray the changing landscape of women’s political participation from 1909 to 1990?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The image of the elf children transforms throughout the novel from a frightening superstition, to a sympathetic newspaper story, to a call for social action. How does this evolution reflect the novel’s themes about society’s willingness to acknowledge vulnerable children?

2. Nature functions as both setting and symbol in Shelterwood. How does Wingate use descriptions of the natural environment to mirror characters’ emotional states and advance the novel’s themes?

3. The novel features several characters that mirror or parallel each other, such as Olive and Dewey in the 1909 timeline. How do these character contrasts help develop the novel’s exploration of different responses to adversity?

4. Valerie and Olive share similarities despite being separated by nearly a century. How do these parallels between the protagonists enhance the novel’s historical commentary and themes?

5. Shelterwood employs mystery elements in both timelines—the disappearance of Hazel in 1909 and the investigation of human remains and illegal logging in 1990. How do these parallel mysteries enhance the novel’s themes about exploitation and justice?

6. The symbol of the Dewy Trees connects the past and present timelines. What other symbols or motifs does Wingate use to emphasize the lasting impact of history on the present?