Transfiguring Adoption’s Overview:
When we left off last week, Daisy and her companions had just stumbled upon the Ickabog and we find out it is real! This week’s chapters focus largely on who the story of the Ickabog- it’s history and personality which makes for a fun read. We’ve spent 50 chapters wondering if there is or isn’t an Ickabog and so it’s very satisfying to finally meet it. It’s also nice to have a break from a lot of the heavy and depressing content of earlier chapters. It finally feels like we are in the climax of the story and can only hope that soon all of the evil men in the palace will finally get what they deserve!
** Spoilers Could Be Ahead **
A few Cautionary Points to watch out for in these chapters:
- Mentions of Loss- No new losses are seen in these chapters but the Ickabog shares it’s story and all of the loss it has experienced (it’s the last of it’s kind). We also see Daisy, Bert, and Roderick all briefly mention the deaths of their parents. The Ickabog also talks about how it will die when it’s children are born.
- Ickabog is Somewhat Scary at First– When we first meet the Ickabog it is threatening to eat the children and seems somewhat intimidating, which might be frightening for some younger readers. We very quickly see that he means no real harm, however, and it quite gentle.
- Brief Mention of Abandonment– We meet the mother of the twins Daisy helped care for at the orphanage and there is a brief mention of them being ‘given to Ma Grunter’
Possible Discussion Points:
- Expectations vs. Reality– We finally meet the Ickabog. How does it match up with your expectations of what it’d be like? Does it act the way the children expect it to?
- Unique Culture of the Ickabog– the Ickabog tells it’s story and explains about it’s history and how Ickabogs procreate. In what ways do these things differ from our own culture?
- Change/Growth– Roderick is surprised when Daisy has genuinely nice motives as he as raised to expect the worst in people. He wants to be liked by his new friends and realizes he needs to change the way he interacts with people and not be such a bully. The Ickabog originally wanted to kill all humans for what they did to it’s ancestors but after befriending Daisy, it decides that humans are kind and no longer wants to kill them.
