Discussion Guide

Accidental Tribes

By C.S. Pascoal

FROM AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR C.S. PASCOAL

An acclaimed illustrated mystery set in NYC about eight misfit teens, digital secrets, and the search for belonging.

"Original, exceptional, and a riveting read from start to finish." Midwest Book Review

"This work is a brilliant triumph. It sends a message you won't forget about the circles we create when everything breaks around us and threatens our security. It is a true masterpiece of pure togetherness." Readers' Favorite Review

Eight kids nobody trusted. One room everyone forgot. Secrets the school was hiding.

At an underfunded public school in Times Square, eight teens facing expulsion or worse are given one last chance: Experiment 359, a thirty-day test designed to prove they can change.

Hacked grades.
AI-generated humiliation.
Anonymous social media accounts.
One disastrous week that put them all in the same room.

They aren't friends. Some are enemies. And none of them trusts the others.

Then they uncover something no one expected them to find. The deeper they dig, the stranger things get.

To save themselves, eight outsiders who can barely look at one another will have to do the one thing nobody expects.

Trust each other.

Because the eight are about to discover one thing no one warned them about: they aren't the only ones being tested.

Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Truly Devious, Accidental Tribes is a sharp, funny, digital-age YA coming-of-age mystery book about misfit teens, online identity, grief, second chances, secrets, and the unexpected family you find when everything goes wrong.

"This book is bold, heartfelt, and unforgettable." Horror Writers Association

These discussion questions were provide by DartFrog Books. 

Book club questions for Accidental Tribes by C.S. Pascoal

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Chapters 1 to 5 (Meeting 1) 

One frozen Tuesday, one unlucky room, eight strangers who already hold a few grudges and hide a lot more.

Eight strangers pressed against a wall, and the narrator says they already “came across like a tribe.” Whose first impression fooled you completely? Whose turned out to be exactly right?

Who is the You? In chapter 2, Ankle-Man asks the question the whole book runs on: who is the you that you’d want to meet five years from now? Everyone answers before the first meeting. It is the price of admission, and nobody gets to shrug it off with “I don’t know.” The eight tried that. It did not work. Answer it in full in UNLOCK 1, every part of it, then bring the one line you are proudest of.

The why behind the what. Every one of the eight did something, and every one had a reason underneath. Pick a character and look twice: are you judging the what or the why? Now do the same for the last person you wrote off too fast.

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Be honest: whose infraction would you have joined? The fifty-cent grade peeks, the unstoppable game, the 2 a.m. art shop, the door-charge parties? What is said in Solitaria stays in Solitaria. Probably.

Ankle-Man walks into your living room, tattoos, monitor, and all. What is your actual move, not the one you would like to claim?

The Director gives them thirty days and says out loud that she expects them to fail. Does being doubted light a fire in you or put one out? Tell the tribe about one time someone expected you to fail.

The unfinished inheritance. In chapter 5, Miryam’s mom writes that to a teen, technology is a best friend, an information pipeline, a future, their unfinished inheritance. What did the adults hand your generation half-built? And what do you plan to finish?

Every building has a Solitaria. What is yours called, who gets sent there, and what would happen if they all got sent on the same day?

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