This Mother Daughter Book Club

A non-fiction book! The discussion theme for this book was "Girls Are Leaders!" We talked about how Goodall was told women didn't belong doing what she was doing, how there were "alpha positions" in the chimp world, and did they have friends at school who are "alphas", we asked them what kinds of problems they want to solve when they grow up-- and we also asked them if they could name any women leaders they look up to.  We asked them if they think kids are powerful enough to make change, or if they think that only adults can make the word change (spoiler-- they think kids can change a LOT!). Next up:  Our FIRST EVER Book Throwdown!!!!!!  Not only are we choosing 10 new books for 2020, we have two new book club mother-daughter duos!!!! Can't wait to see what 2020 book club looks like!

We had at least 3 books set in the Great Depression this year, so the girls are definitely learning about that period (and maybe being a little grateful for a good life?)! We asked the girls how they thought they would have fared with her tough Grandma, if they thought Mary Alice changed from the time she came to Grandma's til the end of the book, and which character they related to the most. Perhaps a *little* tough for 4th grade because of the euphemisms and references, but with a little conversation with the moms, it helped them understand a time before big tech a little bit.

From Amazon: Eleven-year-old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, performing for admiring crowds on her traditional Indian stringed instrument. Her particular instrument was a gift from her grandmother—intricately carved with a mysterious-looking dragon.  When this special family heirloom vanishes from a local church, strange clues surface: a tea kettle ornamented with a familiar pointy-faced dragon, a threatening note, a connection to a famous dead musician, and even a legendary curse. The clues point all the way to India, where it seems that Neela’s instrument has a long history of vanishing and reappearing. Even if Neela does track it down, will she be able to stop it from disappearing again?

Amazon description: In the old days, when Kate had no interest in romance, she never cared what other people thought. Now, it appeared, love was turning her into a rotten human being.  Eleven-year-old Kate Faber wishes she could talk to her best friend Marilyn about this. But Marilyn is no longer her best friend. Or is she? Kate and Marilyn had always been the kind of best friends who lived on the same block for their entire lives and who could agree on the kind of boys worth kissing or who should be invited to their sleepover. The kind of best friends who didn't need words to talk, but always just knew. But lately Marilyn has started to think that Kate can be a bit babyish. And Kate thinks that Marilyn is acting like a big snob. And a lot of the time, well, it feels as though they don't know each other anymore. Somehow nothing is the same, but secretly, Kate and Marilyn both wish it could be.

What a timely book. We follow Esperanza, an affluent 12 year old girl who lives in Mexico and loves her family and her life.  A few twists and turns and she ends up escaping Mexico and crossing the border to the United States. Her life changes overnight.   This book made it easy to open discussion with the girls about what is happening with immigration in the United States right now and the hate that is sometimes directed at immigrants. The girls were impressed that Esperanza never gave up even though she came close to losing hope.

This book was about a girl who is a math genius but also exhibits obsessive-compulsive behaviors.  Because it's the 1930s, many (including her parents) don't think she should pursue her love of math.  Her grandfather is her fiercest advocate and helps her on her journey. We had great discussions about "what girls can do and what boys can do" and how to pay attention when gender bias slips in-- it's tough because it's so built in to our culture in the United States. The girls were also floored that a movie only cost 10 cents in the 1930s!

This book is a GEM. Set in Key West in the 1930s, Turtle tries to join The Diaper Gang-- a group of boys that get paid in candy to babysit babies in their neighborhood. There is so much to talk about in subtle ways with our girls from this book:  the value in boy/girl friendships (proven to reduce risk of rape-- simply by encouraging boy/girl friendships), why boys/girls self-segregate, does gender matter in terms of being good at something, what does family mean, how do you know when to trust someone, is money worth more than people? We had some great discussions with this one.