This Mother Daughter Book Club

These girls are getting SO good at discussion! They really took over the talk and explored Hazel's motivations, what would they do in her position, symbolism... WHOOHOO!

We've got four terrific 4th grade girls in our book club, and they were so thoughtful talking about the subjects that came up in Stella's story.  We talked about the KKK (they still exist!?), we talked about how unfair they made it for black people to vote (and discussed how they still find sneaky ways in 2020 to suppress the black vote), we asked if one life is more valuable than another, and the girls asked each other if they thought they'd speak up if they were in that position.  They admitted it would likely be very hard to speak up.  They decided the only wonderful thing about living "back then" was penny candy!

It's so exciting to choose our books! We get to vote with marbles on our 10 favorites. Go check out our Book Log to see what got picked for 2020!

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.