Category Archives: Book groups

Book groups, Children's literature, Teaching

The Diamond in the Window

3 Comments

(This won’t be my best blog entry, since I have a screaming horrible headache, so please do forgive…) 

The 5th grade book group met yesterday, and we had a fantastic meeting.  Nine kids were in attendance (a tenth had to miss the meeting due to soccer practice, and an eleventh joined the group as the group was meeting – he’ll attend next month).  As I’ve mentioned many times before, this month’s book was one of my personal favorites, The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton.

Based on past book group meetings, and on comments I’ve heard from the kids in the weeks leading up to this meeting, I was really, really afraid the kids would hate the book, and that they would have difficulties with the non-linear plot development.  I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon concocting ways to discuss the book and delve into its more philosophical elements.  So our group discussion was a very happy surprise for me.  The kids all loved the book, passionately and completely, except for one boy who had not finished it because he thought it was realistic fiction (hmmm – go figure on that one).

One girl had memorized a line from the book:  “Beware how you paint yourself!  Carve yourself well!”, which led to a wonderful discussion of the mirror dream and what it means.  Another girl opened her book and read aloud the lines that Uncle Freddy had cross-stitched for his family’s Christmas gifts:  Longfellow’s “Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime and, departing, leave behind us footprints in the sands of time,” Thoreau’s “Fish in the sky,” Emerson’s “Hitch your wagon to a star.”  The kids had not figured out that “H.D.T” stood for Henry David Thoreau, or that “R.W.E” for Ralph Waldo Emerson, but that’s of little consequence, since they each processed the meaning of these phrases and now these phrases are a part of each child’s subconscious.  That’s the beauty of this book, that it serves as a bridge from children’s literature to the literature of the Transcendentalists, and in so doing creates a foundation of knowledge that can be drawn upon later in life. 

Surprisingly, the kids did miss two things that I thought for sure were obvious: when I asked them a pointed question (the kind I usually try to avoid), no one knew that I was refering to the role of Louisa May Alcott in the story.  And when we were discussing the dream about the line of great men leaving footprints in the sand, I asked them “Who was the man who left the greatest, deepest footprints in the sand, and who passed on the brightest light to Mrs. Truth?”  Not one child in the group knew who that man was.  I had to tell them, “Ummmm, it was Jesus.”  Which prompted one child to cry out:  “It’s a RELIGIOUS book??!?!”  Which led us to discuss that no, it’s not a religious book, really, that this dream is about the impact one has on the world: that one person can be so full of truth and vision and goodness and intelligence that his or her impact on the world is lasting, and many other people walk in the virtual footprints left by that one person. 

We also talked a bit about literature in general, for the benefit of the two kids who joined the group yesterday and therefore had not read the book.  The general literature discussion quickly became a one-ups-man-ship contest – “I read way above my grade level” and “I have to read REALLY thick books because I read so fast – a skinny book like this doesn’t last me long enough!”  Cringing, I subtly put the brakes on this conversation, and we talked about the value of literature, as opposed to its size and speed and “level.”  I picked a random passage from TDITW and read it out loud to the group as fast as I possibly could.  Several kids giggled and said, “huh?  What did you say?”, to which I responded, “Exactly!  When you’re reading a book really quickly, that’s probably the speed at which you’re reading.  When you read that fast, you’re getting the plot line, but you’re not picking up on the beauty of the language and the deeper meaning of the words.”  And then I read the same passage again, slowly and thoughtfully, lingering on the longer, more delicious words, stopping to contemplate, out loud, the meaning of the phrases.  I saw a lot of virtual lightbulbs go off over the kids’ heads at that moment.

It was the best book group meeting ever.  We all had a fabulous time, and it was hard to pack up and leave.  And the one boy who hadn’t finished the book shyly asked me to renew it, since he thought he’d like to keep reading it, after all.

Book groups, Etc.

This week

4 Comments

It’s only Monday, but it feels like Friday.  It’s just one of those weeks.  Busy today, no time to think today, first storytime tomorrow, first tutoring of the school year tomorrow, regular work on Wednesday, second storytime on Thursday, 3 Apples Storytelling Thursday night, regular work on Friday, family reunion for Jim’s family in New Hampshire on Saturday.

The book groups start next week, and I came up with a great idea today.  I always send each book group member a reminder postcard a week or so before the meeting.  Since our book groups are called “Bagels n’ Books,” I’ve created a cute postcard that I use each time that has a photo of bagels, an ampersand, and a pile of books.  Very cute, the kids love it, and it’s a good reminder.  BUT this month I did something a little different.  Since we’re discussing The Diamond in the Window, Jim and I drove to Concord yesterday and took some photos of the house.  I had planned on printing a large copy of the best photo for display on my desk, so the kids could see what the house looks like, but I had an “Ah-a!” moment this afternoon.  I took the best photo of the house and used it as the graphic for the reminder postcard, along with a caption that reads:  “The Diamond in the Window House, Concord, MA.”  On the back of the postcard I typed a note to the kids saying “I look forward to discussing one of my favorite books with you!”  I love the finished product, and am proud of myself for coming up with this idea in the midst of a crazy day.  Yay me.

Hopefully there will be other creative moments this week…

Book groups

Upcoming book group titles

I’ve been working on the book group titles for the next two months, and here they are:

The 5th and 6th grade book groups will be reading the same book in September, one of my personal favorites from my own childhood, The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton.  Unfortunately, it has just gone out of print (I had bought a new paperback copy for the library a year ago, but there are no copies to be found now), so many of the copies that I sent home with the book group kids were pretty gross, and it has definitely prejudiced them against the book.  I hope they give it a chance, and read the whole book before they judge it.  And I’m toying with the idea of trying to contact Jane Langton, a local author who often shopped in the Toy Shop in my managerial days.  At the very least, I’ll make a field trip to Concord to take a photo of the recently repainted house, so the kids can see that it actually exists.

The October book for the 7th to 9th grade Teen Book Group is Geraldine McCaughrean’s The White Darkness.  As mentioned in previous posts, I LOVED this book, and can’t wait to hear what the teens think of it.  I’m planning to bring my laptop to that book group meeting, so that the group can write a post for this blog about the book and their thoughts on it.

In October I’m also hoping to start a 4th grade group, if I can drum up enough group members.  The book choice for that group will depend partly on who joins, but I’ve pulled several potential titles, including Fergus Crane.

I chose the October books for the 5th and 6th grade groups based on  how well I know the groups and what they like to read.  The 5th grade October book will be Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi; we’ve been a little fantasy-heavy lately, and a good piece of historical fiction will be welcome.  As for the 6th grade group, I chose Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce, which promises to be funny and engaging.

Lots of reading ahead – as soon as I’ve finished The Lightning Thief I’ll get started on some of these great book group titles!

Book groups, Library events, Young adult book review

Summer update

8 Comments

As I’m typing this, Pippa is trying to jump into my lap – not noticing that there is already a laptop in my lap.   So do forgive any typos.  They’ll be purely cat-produced.

The summer is going well.  Very well.  Predictably, I’m exhausted, but that’s really my own fault: if I were less of a perfectionist my life would be simpler.  But the summer really isn’t about me and how tired I am, it’s about how much fun the kids in town are having at the library, and how much they’re enjoying their summer reading.  There have been so many happy kids coming in to collect prizes, enter raffles, and grin when I tell them that surely they’ll earn a bookplate this year (you have to read at least thirty hours to earn a bookplate in a library book).  And lots and lots of happy kids and parents at library events.

Last Thursday night we had another family movie night, with Happy Feet as our feature presentation.  94 people were signed up (!), and 72 actually showed.  Incredible.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the whole movie, since the children’s room was unstaffed, and Roy was covering the movie staffing, but the bit that I stayed for was so much fun.  These movie nights are a true community event, with dozens of kids clustered on carpet squares on the floor at the front of the room (by request – the kids prefer the floor to the chairs) and parents sitting in sociable groups in the comfortable chairs at the back of the room.  No one stays truly quiet for these movies, which makes them a million times more enjoyable than watching a DVD with just a few people in your living room.  The kids roar in abundant group laughter at the sight gags, and the parents gossip quietly and enjoy each other’s company while they delight in the fun that their children are having. 

Today was the July meeting of the teen book group, and our discussion centered on Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins.  We had a really productive discussion, and decided as a group that there are parts of the book that we all really liked, namely the portrayal of Indian culture, but those bits are negatively counter-balanced by the weaker aspects of the book, including the predictable plot and the lack of careful editing.  The girls in the group noticed many instances where the book disagrees with itself, which made us all feel that the author didn’t take enough care to check her own work.   Personally, I feel that Mitali Perkins has an admirable goal in her writing – to address young readers who are “between cultures” – but that the goal does not a great book make.  On her website and in interviews she comes across as erudite and lucid, but I just didn’t really enjoy the actual book.  If I were to rank it on a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 3.  And I think the teen book group members would probably agree with that ranking.  For our next book, I chose one of my absolute favorite newish books, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.  I hope the group loves it as much as I do, but if they don’t, I’ll be very interested to hear their opinions.

And that’s the news for now.  Poor Jim just arrived home and showed me his battle scars from a nasty bike spill that he took on his way home from work tonight.  Major wipe-out, major need for some TLC.

Book groups, Children's literature

Artemis Fowl

The 5th grade book group lobbied hard for Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer to be the book for their summer meeting, and we finally had our discussion about it on Monday afternoon.  Uncharacteristically, only four of the eight kids in the group showed up (must be summer), which inhibited the discussion a bit.  M—, a bright and well-spoken young man, openly expressed his frustration that the conversation wasn’t as lively with fewer people.  He missed having eight people waving their hands in the air, anxious to be heard.  He also missed the three boys who didn’t attend on Monday, leaving him as the only boy in the group.  (Luckily he has healthy self-esteem, and being the only boy didn’t really faze him one bit.)  But we had a good conversation about this highly popular book, and I feel like I better understand why it and the rest of the books in the series are so popular. 

While I enjoyed reading the book, it’s not the best or most memorable book that I have read recently.  When my brother saw the book on my coffee table two weeks ago, he said that he had been disappointed in it, that it hadn’t lived up to his expectations, and I agree with that view.  Artemis Fowl  is definitely engaging, and the plot moves along at a good clip, but I couldn’t quite see why this series has reached phenomenon status with kids.

Silly me.  Within the first few minutes of discussion at the book group, the kids made it abundantly clear to me why they love the series:

1) The protagonist is a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind.  Or, as M— put it, “He’s 12!  And he’s a mastermind!”

2) Artemis Fowl has a bodyguard.  M— announced that he would also like a bodyguard.  “How cool would that be?”

3) Action.  The plot nevers stops moving.

4) Technology.  T— talked at length about being intrigued by all the advanced fairy technology.

5)  Holly Short, a girl fairy with brains and attitude.  The girls especially liked Holly’s character.

A— did mention things she really didn’t like about the book, the most major of which is the book’s structure.  A— hates (and I do mean hates) that the story keeps flip-flopping from Artemis’s storyline to Holly’s storyline, then to the storyline back at the fairy base camp.  She prefers stories that “flow” in one even unbroken narrative line.  So we talked a bit about style and structure and how authors assemble their books.  It will be interesting to see how A—‘s views on literature change as she enters 6th grade in the fall.

All in all, the meeting was a success, despite the low attendance, and I better understand the popularity of these books (rather an essential part of my job).

Next week, the Teen Book Group will be discussing Monsoon Summer.

Book groups, Children's book reviews, Children's literature

Green Glass Sea

Yesterday was the last fifth grade book group of the school year (though we’ll have one meeting in July), and it was the best yet.  This group of kids has evolved so much over this year, and they are now the most thoughtful, well-spoken, intelligent, and respectful bunch of fifth graders that I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. 

Our book was The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, a piece of historical fiction about the building of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos.  Dewey, the main character, is ten when the story starts in 1943; we begin with her being transported out to Los Alamos to join her scientist father who has been working there for a while.  The story continues up to the dropping of the first bomb on Hiroshima, and a sequel is in the works.

The kids loved the book.  And I mean LOVED the book.  This really surprised me, since I had kind of pulled a fast one on them to even get this book into the mix for a group discussion (they had summarily rejected this book in favor of a cowboy story, and I was regretfully going along with their choice until I figured out there weren’t enough copies of the cowboy story available, and I snuck The Green Glass Sea back in).  The group is half girls, half boys, and everyone really liked the misfit, nerdy character of Dewey.  The girls loved that Dewey is a pioneer, a girl who excels at science and experiments, and that she doesn’t care about what other people think of her.  The boys respected Dewey’s intelligence, and one commented extensively on how being a “nerd” isn’t necessarily a bad thing.   

Another member of the group, who I swear is better educated and more intelligent at the end of fifth grade than I am now, got us into a conversation about the differences between boys and girls.  The conversation arose because I mentioned the tension between the pair of married scientist characters in the book (the wife begins to have serious misgivings about using the bomb on civilians, while her husband is too wrapped up in the excitement of scientific success to see her point), and Aaron commented that boys grow up playing with soldiers and loving war, while girls are more peaceful.  There was some bristling of other group members as he said that, but eventually we were able to discuss that yes, there are some differences between men and women, and that we also need to be careful not to make blanket, stereotypical statements about any group.

Peter, another group member, then said: “It’s really not fair that men can get drafted to go to war, but women can’t.  Everyone’s equal, so drafting should be equal, too.”  A lot of eyes opened wide, as the truth of that statement hit home.  Then Peter started to talk about the cruelty of the atomic bomb, and how hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed.  Which started an excellent conversation about war and why the atomic bomb was created in the first place.

We covered so much ground in our conversation that it would be hard to remember all of the group’s insightful comments; and this post would become more than long.  So let me just finish with a comment from Jill:  she told us that her teacher had informed her that this book was too difficult for her, and that the fifth grade library book group shouldn’t be reading it because it would be too hard for fifth graders to understand.  Jill was incensed by her teacher’s comment, and so she finished the book that weekend and then wrote a voluntary two-page summary and critical analysis of the book, which she turned in to her teacher on Monday morning.

No word on the teacher’s reaction…

Book groups

Yellow Star

Last Tuesday the Teen Book Groups met.  My group had read Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy, with the option to also read Day of Tears by Julius Lester.  In the end, only three of the seven girls enrolled were able to attend the meeting (it’s softball season), but those three and I had an involved, serious, deep discussion about Yellow Star (only one of the three had read Lester’s book) and the broader issues of prejudice, war, and the Holocaust. 

In Yellow Star, Roy relates the story of her aunt’s childhood in the Lutz ghetto in free verse, portraying the thoughts and experiences of a little girl who was one of only twelve child survivors of that ghetto.  Mesmerizing and intense, the incredibly moving story is a read-in-one-sitting book, because there is no way to stop once you’ve been sucked into the vortex of its horror and beauty. 

As we discussed the book, I noticed a couple of things: that it is virtually impossible to snack on Munchkins and pretzels while talking about a book that concerns starvation and deprivation, and that it can be very hard to have a detailed conversation about a book like this one.  We talked how and why Roy had chosen to write in free verse, and we brought up our feelings about certain specific incidents in the book, but our discussion was far shorter than the one we had about the mystery novel Blackthorn Winter.  How to critique an excellent, but spare, piece of historical fiction?

In the end, our conversation turned to the Holocaust in general, films that the girls had seen in classes, books that they had read prior to this one.  One girl brought up The Diary of Anne Frank, and we spent a good portion of the group meeting discussing Anne Frank.  The girl who had brought up the topic is totally frustrated by Anne and her human foibles, such as that Anne wasa still thinking and writing about makeup and boys while others were being tortured and killed in concentration camps.  “How could that be?” questioned this girl, “How could Anne be preoccupied with things like that while in the midst of the Holocaust?”

To me, the natural answer is that, despite the Nazis, Anne was still a teenage girl.  I tried to explain how I thought that I probably would have been the same way if I had been in those circumstances while a teenager, but I know I didn’t make myself clear.  Don’t we all have idealized notions of how brave we could be, how superhuman we could be, how kind and clear-headed and generous we could be, if we were put into a trying circumstance?  I’d like to think that I’d be exemplary, but in truth I’m sure that I’d disappoint myself in my human pettiness.  It was interesting to see a smart, kind, thoughtful teenage girl’s idealism, and to realize the effect that idealism had on her reading of The Diary of Anne Frank. 

So we solved no issues, but we did have a discussion that left all of us feeling like we had accomplished something.  The next three books we’ll be reading for this group are not as serious, but perhaps we’ll sneak a serious book in again next fall and see where it leads us.

Book groups, Children's book reviews

Peter Pan in Scarlet

2 Comments

Ok, I admit it, I haven’t finished the book for today’s fifth grade book group (I’ll have to speed read at lunch today), but I like what I’ve read so far.  Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean is very British, and I’m sure her use of words is one thing that’s caused confusion with the kids, but it’s a fun romp.  McCaughread does perpetuate stereotypes, though: there is much offensive mention of the “little redskins.”  I’ll be interested to hear whether the kids in the book group picked up on that particular phraseology.  And I’ll be interested to find out whether the kids enjoyed the book and understood the storyline.  Update tomorrow!

Countdown:  12 days!!!

Book groups, Children

Confusion

Two of the fifth graders who are in the book group attended game hour yesterday, and as we were cleaning up the room at the end of game time, both boys started talking to me about this month’s book.  The book is Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean, the first authorized sequel to the original Peter Pan.  And the boys are truly puzzled by it.  John told me that he’s totally confused by what’s happening: “First they’re old – then they’re kids – and there’s something weird going on with Wendy…”  Frank told me that he’s read about a hundred pages, but nothing is making sense to him.  John suggested that maybe it’s really a book for older kids, not fifth graders, and Frank agreed.

I haven’t read the book yet (I’m still working on that assignment that’s due on the 19th), so I couldn’t help them with specifics, but I did suggest that they jot down questions that they have as they read the rest of the book, to use as a starting point for our discussion.  And I also mentioned that some books are confusing, but intentionally so, and that such books often work towards resolution and solution by their conclusion.  It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I seem to remember that McCaughrean’s Pack of Lies is one such book.
It’s too bad that the kids are struggling with Peter Pan in Scarlet, but they are all very bright, very literate kids, and hopefully they’ll be able to tease some sense out of this confusing text.  If not, at least we’ll have LOTS to discuss at the next meeting, on the 27th.

Book groups, Children's book reviews

Book group update

Last Tuesday was the 4th grade Bagels n’ Books group, today was the 5th grade book group.  Our book was Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, a book which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the giant cockroaches and rats and bats.  This is the last time that the two groups will have read the same book, so the last time that I can compare them head-to-head, and it’s really fascinating to note the differences.

The 4th grade group has dwindled a bit in size from its overwhelming high of eleven participants, one of the unfortunate effects of being a library program, but we still have a good core group.  All great kids, all kids who I’ve gotten to know from their visits to the library on non-book group days, but somehow the group still isn’t quite gelling.  We try, but I have to constantly remind them about “book group etiquette,” such as not interrupting each other, valuing each other’s comments, and staying on topic.

In contrast, the fifth grade group, which has grown a bit in size over the months, has gelled quite nicely.  Like the fourth graders, the fifth graders are all great kids as individuals, but they’ve also reached the next level in their development and in their group dynamic.  At the start of today’s discussion, one of the kids said, “Can we be sure we raise our hands, and not interrupt each other?  I think it would be nice if we made sure we stayed on topic, too, so that we can really discuss the book and not be rude.”  And they were fabulous.  I was the adult in the room, but I didn’t need to prompt book discussion: these kids had really thought about the book and had excellent comments about it.  They had a great dialogue, without much help from me, and I enjoyed hearing their insights.  What a pleasure!

And do read the book, if you haven’t.  Good, original fantasy is hard to come by!