What are good book club discussion questions for Braiding Sweetgrass?

Spoiler-free questions to get the conversation going: Which essay or chapter felt like a warm hug when you read it, and where were you when you read it?; Did this book change how you noticed plants, weather, or small living things in your daily life this week?; Kimmerer writes about gifts and gratitude as a way of living. What is one small everyday thing you have felt more thankful for since starting the book?; The idea of reciprocity, giving back to what gives to us, runs through the book. How does that idea sit with you in your own home, garden, or neighborhood?; Which of Kimmerer's stories about her daughters, her garden, or her teaching reminded you of someone in your own family?.

What food and drinks should I serve at a Braiding Sweetgrass book club?

Food: Three Sisters stew (corn, beans, squash), Warm cornbread with honey butter, and Maple-roasted apple and pecan crumble. Drinks: Sweetgrass and chamomile herbal tea, Hot maple-cider toddy, and Steamed cinnamon milk with honey.

How do I host a Braiding Sweetgrass book club night?

A botanist and Potawatomi citizen weaves Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and gratitude into luminous essays about our relationship with the living world.

Braiding Sweetgrass Book Club Questions, Food & Host Guide

Warm-up questions

1 Which essay or chapter felt like a warm hug when you read it, and where were you when you read it?
2 Did this book change how you noticed plants, weather, or small living things in your daily life this week?

Digging in

1 Kimmerer writes about gifts and gratitude as a way of living. What is one small everyday thing you have felt more thankful for since starting the book?
2 The idea of reciprocity, giving back to what gives to us, runs through the book. How does that idea sit with you in your own home, garden, or neighborhood?
3 Which of Kimmerer's stories about her daughters, her garden, or her teaching reminded you of someone in your own family?
4 She braids together science and Indigenous knowledge so tenderly. Which pairing of the two moved you most, and why do you think it landed?

Going deep

1 Was there a passage that quietly unsettled you or made you want to change something, even in a small way? What feeling did it leave behind?
2 If you could carry just one teaching from this book into the rest of your year like a pocket stone, which would you choose and why?

On the table

Three Sisters stew (corn, beans, squash)

A warm nod to the Three Sisters chapter, hearty and nurturing in a single bowl

Warm cornbread with honey butter

Comforting, a little indulgent, and echoes the book's reverence for corn and sweetness

Maple-roasted apple and pecan crumble

Inspired by the sugar maple chapters, cozy dessert that fills the room with autumn smells

To sip

Sweetgrass and chamomile herbal tea No alcohol

Calming, fragrant, and a gentle tribute to the title plant

Hot maple-cider toddy

Warm cider with a splash of bourbon and a cinnamon stick, like a fire in a mug

Steamed cinnamon milk with honey No alcohol

A bedtime-soft option for the tea-and-blanket crowd

Soft acoustic and earthy folk for candlelight and slow conversation

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