skip navigation links

Readers > Talk it Up! > Discussion guides > 2011 Oregon Reader's Choice Award Nominees > The Stonekeeper

The Stonekeeper (Amulet Book 1) by Kazu Kibuishi

Discussion guide written by Kate Carter

Summary

Two years after their father’s death, Emily and Navin move with their mother to their great-grandfather’s house. It’s a strange house and it proves to be dangerous as well when a creature lures and captures their mother through a door in the basement. Emily and Navin follow into an alternate world. With the help of some robots and a very special and powerful stone, they set out to rescue their mother.

Booktalk

Two years ago, Emily witnessed her father’s death when his car plummeted over a cliff. Now, she – along with her mother and brother – has moved to her family’s dilapidated old house in the country. Since Emily’s great grandfather Silas lived there (and was never seen again), it has been empty. Some people say it’s haunted. And those people are right!

In their first night sleeping in the house, they hear a noise in the basement. Mom goes down to investigate, followed by Emily and her brother Navin. Standing at the top of the stairs, they see this [p. 46]! Emily and Navin race after her, through a secret door, and find themselves in a whole new world. Fortunately, earlier in the day while she was cleaning, Emily found a beautiful glowing stone. And fortunately, she tied it around her neck with a string and she’s still wearing it, because that stone begins to talk to her:

If you want to save your mother, listen very carefully. Make your way down into the ravine and find the cavern’s creek. Follow it upstream to the water’s source … and there you will find a house built on a column of rock. … Whatever happens, you must seek the aid of the man who lives at the house … your great grandfather Silas Charnon. Now go. You have no time to lose.

Follow Emily and Navin on their perilous journey to their great grandfather in this first book in the Amulet series: The Stonekeeper. FYI, an amulet is another name for that talking stone.

187 pages, 4th grade and up

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Why doesn’t Navin say anything about the amulet’s string tying itself?
  2. Why don’t Emily and Navin go to get help instead of going through the basement door after their mother?
  3. Emily is given a choice between accepting the amulet’s power or turning it away. Navin didn’t want Emily to accept the amulet’s power and thinks they can help their mother another way. What would your decision have been? Why?
  4. Great-grandfather Silas tells Emily the stone has great power, power even to turn back time. Would you want to turn back time? If you do, what would you want to relive?
  5. Can the amulet be trusted?
  6. Was Emily right to let the son of the Elf King live? Why or why not?
  7. Emily saw her father die. How do you think that affects her decisions about her mother and brother?
  8. Emily seems to accept the robots and strange creatures in this other world rather calmly. Why do you think she does? How would you react if you found yourself flying through a tunnel of tentacles or battling an arachnopod?
  9. Close to the beginning of the story, Emily’s mother says that Emily shouldn’t look up to her eccentric great-grandfather and that “it’s better to lead a normal life, like everyone else.” (page 29) Do you agree? Do you want a “normal” life or some adventure in it?
  10. Great-grandfather Silas tells Emily the amulet contains a stone that can grant someone the power to rule the land, but Emily only wants the stone’s power to save her mom and go home. Do you think she’ll be enticed to use the amulet for something more?
  11. Why was the graphic novel format a good choice by the author? How do the pictures add to or tell more of the story?
  12. This is book one and ends with Emily, Navin, their mother, Miskit and the other robots inside the house with legs on the edge of a forest and lake. What predictions do you have for the second book, The Stonekeeper’s Curse?

If you liked this book, try