Reading Group Guide We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler In Brief A dark, rollicking pirate story for grown-ups, from the mega-bestselling author otherwise known as Lemony Snicket In Detail A boat has gone missing. Goods have been stolen. There is blood in the water. It is the twenty-first century and a crew of pirates is terrorizing the San Francisco Bay. Phil is a husband, a father, a struggling radio producer and the owner of a large condo with a view of the water. But he’d like to be a rebel and a fortune hunter. Gwen is his daughter. She’s fourteen. She’s a student, a swimmer and a best friend. But she’d like to be an adventurer and an outlaw. Phil teams up with his young, attractive assistant. They head for the open road, attending a conference to seal a deal. Gwen teams up with a new, fierce friend and some restless souls. They head for the open sea, stealing a boat to hunt for treasure. We Are Pirates is a novel about our desperate searches for happiness and freedom, about our wild journeys beyond the boundaries of our ordinary lives. Also, it’s about a teenage girl who pulls together a ragtag crew to commit mayhem in the San Francisco Bay, while her hapless father tries to get her home. About the Author Daniel Handler is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Why We Broke Up, Adverbs, The Basic Eight and Watch Your Mouth, and, as Lemony Snicket, Who Could That Be at This Hour? and a sequence of children’s novels collectively entitled A Series of Unfortunate Events. He lives in San Francisco. Visit www.bloomsbury.com/readinggroups/list for more reading guides Reading Group Guide Discussion 1. Are you more of a Phil Needle person, or more of a Gwen person? Whose point of view drew you in more, Phil’s or Gwen’s? Do you think that means you’re more like a pirate or a disillusioned businessman? If you were going to create an alter ego to embolden yourself to partake in illegal activity, as Gwen created Octavia, who would this person be? What would you name this person, how would she or he dress, and, most important, what crime would she or he commit? 2. What is Gwen’s relationship with her city, San Francisco? Do you think her relationship with her hometown in any way pushed her toward her final exploits? 3. What emotions does Phil Needle’s ambition trigger in you? Empathy? Repulsion? Admiration? Shame? You may feel more than a single emotion. Discuss! 4. Reflect on Gwen’s relationships with Naomi and Amber. Given the choice between friends like these or none at all, what would you choose? Have you had your own Naomis and Ambers in your life? Have you been a Naomi or an Amber to another? 5. The popularity of the band Tortuga is a constant throughout the novel. In your imagination, what does this band sound like? What band or musician have you gotten obsessed with? If this book were the movie of your life, what song would play as the credits rolled? 6. How does the presence of Levine alter the course of events? Would things have played out differently if Levine had never worked for Phil Needle? How so? And what of Cody Glasserman? If he had never been along for the ride, how might things have turned out? What if Nathan Glasserman had in fact shown up that fateful night? Would the girls’ diabolical plans have moved forward, or would they have been derailed? Do you ever think about how the addition or subtraction of a single individual in your life could have landed you in a wholly different place than where you are right now? 7. Amber claims, “I mean, it’d be better to like a nice guy, but there aren’t any.” What do you make of this statement? Are you in agreement or disagreement, or partial agreement? If there is truth in such a philosophy, how do you imagine this affects girls, and the women they become? Or boys, and the men they become? 8. Certain words, such as “verily” and “wench,” come into significant play throughout the course of this story. How do these simple words work to bond Gwen and Amber to each other? How do they work to bind you, the reader, to the narrative? 9. Is it somewhat abusive to the elderly to use them as punishment for an errant teenager? Or does the potential for mutual positive personal growth outweigh the unseemly aspects of this arrangement? 10. What do you think drew Phil Needle amorously towards Levine? Compulsion? Boredom? Fantasy? The staving off of middle age? True desire? Actual affection? Delusion? Explore various combinations. 11. What of the seafaring violence? Did you see that coming? Did it change your feelings about these characters? Did your relationship to this book shift at all? How so? Visit www.bloomsbury.com/readinggroups/list for more reading guides Reading Group Guide 12. Do father and daughter share a tendency toward delusion? Do you think this is a product of nature or nurture? 13. Were you surprised by Gwen and Amber’s kiss? Was the kiss romantic or passionate in nature, or was it more like a pact, blood sister–style? What was the feeling of this particular kiss? 14. How do you think what occurred on the yacht will affect Gwen, Amber, and Cody as they mature into adults and go out into the world? Discuss the different possibilities. 15. Who is this mysterious narrator, the watcher who begins and ends this tale? 16. What are your feelings about the apparent lack of consequences the three teenagers experience? Did you find yourself wanting them to be caught and punished, or were you relieved that they were seemingly let off the hook? And what of how Manny slipped away so easily? How do you feel about all of this? Visit www.bloomsbury.com/readinggroups/list for more reading guides .