First, I will start with a book review:
"The Mother-Daughter Book Club" by Heather Vogel Frederick
is about 4 very different girls roped together by their mothers- to form a book club. The mothers decide the book for the year will be "Little Women". The story of what happens next is told in alternating chapters between the four girls. The girls are each very different from each other, I think young girls reading will find someone in the story to identify with.
Emma is the quiet, bookish daughter of the town's librarian. Jess is Emma's close friend and lives on an organic farm- her mother is working in New York and Jess finds herself missing her mother and dealing with a broken family. Cassidy is the new girl in town, her mother is an ex-super model- a lot to live up to, or to live down- if you are a hockey playing tom-boy who looks nothing like her. Megan is from a newly wealthy family, and used to be best friends with Emma, but is now running with the mean girls.
There is enough information sprinkled throughout the book to get girls interested in Little Women if they have not read it, and girls will not be handicapped by not having read it.
I loved that the girls begin to ask themselves..."what would Jo March do?" - and that at the end of the book when asked which March girl they identified the most with, the girls gave some surprising answers.
I am wary of books with spoiled/bratty kids, disrespect towards family, plain old attitude....we skip over many popular series for this reason...but this book was free from anything off-putting, I thought. There was some tension between a few of the girls and their mothers, but normal - mother/daughter angst...'she doesn't understand' type stuff that was realistic and not over-the-top. The ending was a little too fairy-tale-ish for me- despite the fact I love a happy ending, it was a little too-sweetly wrapped up...but yet, a fun, clean read for girls.
I think it is a can't miss summer read for girls ages 5th to 6th grade...even 7th.
Next, our Summer reading- so far...
I am reading "When the brain can't hear, unraveling the mystery of auditory processing disorder" -see it here at Amazon, I am reading this to understand better how to help our bonus student, Teddy, who has been diagnosed with APD.
I am also reading "Pride and Prejudice", just because I needed a Elizabeth/Darcy fix...
Meg is reading "Double Identity" , which is a mystery/thriller- she has a thirst for those, but it is hard to find ones that are age-appropriate, clean, and won't give her nightmares...I read this one first and approved it- and enjoyed it, a very well-done story. The main character in the story is twelve, and the grade level is listed as 5th to 8th.
Meg is also re-reading the Harry Potter series...
Josie is re-reading the Warriors series... I am reading "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg" with Demi and Amie right now, and Demi is reading lots of "Calvin & Hobbes", as always.
Next up on our list is "Peter and the Starcatchers" which was recommended
by OC Mom, and "The Mob-feather and bones series" which is a series about crows- a favorite study subject of Meg's, I think she might like it...
So, what are you reading? Any good recommends?