Thursday, October 16, 2008

Mother-daughter book club.

Dots and I were recently invited to join a mother-daughter Book Club. We met for the first time last week.

TheWilloughbys

Our first selection was The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. Dots and I really enjoyed this book, billed as "a short novel mocking the conventions of old-fashioned children's books stuffed with orphans, nannies and long-lost heirs." The writing was clever and witty with a lot of subtle references to classic children's literature. Another fifth grade girl led our discussion, which was quite lively and interesting. Her questions ran along the lines of "How does the author make it amusing to read of children with truly awful parents?" I was impressed with the girls' thoughtful comments and also with their respect for one another and their willingness to take risks with their answers.

At the back of the book, Ms. Lowry included a glossary. The girls loved sharing their favorite definitions from it. An example: "cryptic means seeming to have a hidden meaning. If your mother says, "Consider yourself grounded, mister!" it is not at all cryptic. But if she says in a certain voice, "We need to talk," she is being cryptic. And you are about to be grounded."

Here are the books the girls chose for the rest of the year:

TheCityofEmber
The City of Ember
Dots is reading this right now and will not set it down long enough for me to even look at it.


HugoCabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
This book has fabulous illustrations that help tell the story. We have given it as a gift several times, and it has been very well-received.


LightningThief
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1
Dots ranks this series among her all-time favorite books.


MangoShapedSpace
A Mango-Shaped Space


ThiefLord
The Thief Lord

11 comments:

Amber M. said...

What a great idea! I'd love to do this with Anna when she gets a bit bigger.

I actually met Lois Lowry when I was in the 3rd grade...but I haven't read any of her books for years. I might be adding this one to my must-read list.

Erin said...

This makes me so happy to have a daughter. A mother-daughter book club... what a positively brilliant idea!!!

Anonymous said...

The only book I read from your list is the Percy Jackson one, and that is an awesome read.

I run a Percy Jackson fanste: percyquest.com
Be sure to join our small forum. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book.

Cindy Hudson said...

Yeah I'm so glad to hear your mother-daughter book club got off to a great start. I've never read this book by Lois Lowry, but it sounds really interesting. And it looks like you've made some other interesting future choices.

When you run out of those, visit motherdaughterbookclub.com, a website I publish where moms and daughters send in ideas for others who are in clubs. It would be great to hear more about your club as you go along.

Hopsy said...

What a fun way to spend time together and learn too!

Cindy Hudson said...

And if you'd like to add a book review or a suggestion to the list, just drop me a line at info@motherdaughterbookclub.com.

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

Great Idea...great choices too!

Preppy Pettit said...

I love this idea.

sallywrites said...

Waht a good idea - a mother daughter book club!

3 Peanuts said...

Oh I look forward to the day when Kate and I will do this! I hope you enjoy it.

Kim

Heidi said...

My son loves the Lightning Thief as well. We love books by Kate DiCamillo and read them aloud, especially "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" and "Despereaux".

Just found your blog and am enjoying it.