Category Archives: Book groups

Book groups, Teens, Young adult book review

Trickster’s Choice

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At the risk of oversharing, I’d just like to excuse my lack of posts in the last couple of weeks – I’ve been fighting a wicked case of acid reflux, and haven’t felt much like blogging when I get home in the evenings.  Thus ends the oversharing.

But it has been quite busy at the library recently, and I do have lots to write about; I’ll start today with a quick post on Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice, which was the book selection for last Tuesday’s Teen Book Group.

I was very, very, VERY glad that I had the long holiday weekend to read Trickster’s Choice, since it’s one of those books that is impossible to skim and read quickly.  I did try to skim its 400-odd pages, but every time I skimmed, I missed some very important detail and had to backtrack to find what I had missed…thus slowing me down even more.  I wish that I had liked the book more, because I wouldn’t have begrudged the laborious reading process if I had liked it, but I’m just not a huge fan of high fantasy.  Pierce’s strength lies in the creation of her fantasy world, which is great for readers who like high fantasy, but her writing style tends to be overly-detailed and clunky.

Pierce does have a huge and loyal fan base, though, which is how we came to read this book for the Teen Book Group.  After four years of hearing teen girls rave about Pierce’s books it seemed only natural to choose one when it was proposed by a book group member.  Ten teens (nine girls and one boy) attended last Tuesday’s meeting, and the majority of those attending loved the book.  Two of the book group members have read every single one of Pierce’s books already, and I’d guess that at least five of the others will be seeking out Pierce’s other books.  (Two girls hadn’t read the book at all – I do serve a yummy afternoon snack at the book group – and I couldn’t really tell what the boy in attendance thought of the book.)  So our meeting became a Tamora Pierce love-fest, and the book generated one of the best discussions we’ve had in a long time. 

One member mentioned that this book needs to be read slowly, and almost all of the teens who had read the book cited this as a positive attribute.  There are a lot of fast, avid readers in the group, and they were glad to have a book that slowed them down and forced them to read every word of the text rather than skim.  Seeing that one or two teens got a little quiet here, I spoke up and said that I’m a slow reader, and I spent hours upon hours reading this book; and the quiet teens looked relieved as they nodded in agreement with me.  And then the discussion continued on to other things the teens loved about Trickster’s Choice: the characters, the setting, the descriptions, the unpredictability of the plot.  The teens who have read other books by Pierce also raved about how Pierce’s quartets of books interconnect and overlap with each other.

I’m glad that I’ve finally read a book by Tamora Pierce, and glad that I have a better sense of her appeal for teens, specifically teen girls.  I won’t be seeking out any more of her books for myself, but now I can better steer library patrons towards her books, and I better understand how her various quartets work together (an issue that had confused me in the past).

Next month’s teen book group book:  The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo.

Book groups, Children

Gregor the Overlander

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Tuesday was the November meeting of the 5th grade book group, and we discussed Suzanne Collins’ Gregor the Overlander.  Six kids showed up (impressive, considering I forgot to send my usual email reminder the day before the group), and we had an odd mix of deep discussion of heavy topics and juice-through-the-nose giggles.

So let’s get the juice spurting giggles out of the way: when the bagels and cream cheese were about half-devoured, the group’s newest member excitedly raised her hand, and I called on her.  And she burst into song, “The rocket’s red glare…Rats bursting in air…>giggle giggle snort<…”  And the whole group lost it.  I have to admit, the song works.  And though gross, it’s pretty funny.  And actually related to the book.  I let everyone giggle until the giggles started to sound forced, then I tried to rein the group back in to the book discussion.  It took a few minutes, and there were a few more attempts to start the song up again (all very politely preceded by the raising of hands), but eventually we got back on track.

I posed a few questions of my own, and then moved on to two questions from the Scholastic website that particularly intrigued me:

1.  “The prophecies of Bartholomew of Sandwich foretold many things that have occurred in the Underland including the death of Luxa’s parents. When prophecies are fulfilled, is it because of fate or because people shape their behavior to conform to the prophecy? Discuss the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies. Also discuss the belief in free will versus fate.”

2.  “Quest is a recurring theme in the fantasy adventure genre. You might argue that there are two quests in Gregor the Overlander. One is that of the Underlanders to fulfill the Prophecy of Gray and thus prevent their annihilation by the rats. The other is Gregor’s quest to find his father and bring him home. How are the two quests interrelated? Why can one not exist without the other?”  (both questions from the Scholastic book discussion guide on Gregor the Overlander.)

After the juice snort giggles, I wasn’t sure how these questions would go over, but the kids launched into a fabulous discussion of fate versus free will, and then quests and the genre of fantasy.  Interestingly, the group was split evenly on the fate/free will issue, with half of the kids believing that fate completes governs our lives, and the other half arguing that our lives progress as they do entirely because of free will.  The kids talked about the first question for a good fifteen minutes, in great depth, with intelligence and perceptivity.  I was impressed.

We didn’t spend as long on the second question, but our conversation was just as interesting, and I think we cleared up some misconceptions amongst the group members as to what constitutes fantasy.  Several of the kids mentioned that they prefer quest fantasy to fantasy sans quest, since a quest makes the plot exciting and adventurous.  (Not one of the kids mentioned Harry Potter here, which makes me very happy!)

The group’s consensus was that they all loved this book, and two of the six had already gone on to read the entire rest of the series.

As we ran out of time, I introduced the December book selection to the kids.  I told them that I had chosen my favorite book of all time, and that I’d never dared to have a book group read it before, since I love the book so much.  But that I trusted them, and couldn’t wait to hear what their thoughts on it will be…and then I showed them the book.  Anyone care to guess what this mystery book is?  [My siblings, especially Dan, will have the upper hand here.]

Book groups

Book group lists updated

I just finished updating the lists of books that Jennifer and I have used for our book groups (grades 3 through 9).  The lists now only include books that we have actually used or will be using; I have removed all titles that were “in consideration.”

Book groups, Library events, Storytime

Busy busy busy

This was an unusually busy week – four storytimes, two book groups, Game Hour, and a special Halloween program with Greg McAdams.  Which is really only two more programs than a usual week, but it felt like a lot more than that!

Jennifer is on vacation this week (I hope you’re having a great few days off, Jennifer!), so we decided that I would meet with her 4th grade book group so that they could have a meeting in October.  They are a terrific bunch of kids, and we had a very productive discussion about Patrick Carman’s The Dark Hills Divide.  The kids and I agreed that the first half of the book is a bit slow, a bit tedious, and a bit boring, but the second half of the book gets creative, fast-paced, and interesting.  Personally, I felt like the book was an awfully tough slog, but the kids seemed to mostly like it.

That was Monday’s book group – Tuesday’s book group was the 5th graders, and we discussed E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It.  I’ve used Five Children and It for book group discussions before, partly because I enjoy introducing kids to an author they most likely won’t discover on their own, and partly because the book generates great discussion.  For this meeting, I also played a portion of the movie of Five Children and It (starring Kenneth Branagh and Freddy Highmore), and we spent a fair amount of time talking about why the movie people changed the plot and setting of the story so much from the original.  This 5th grade group is another terrific bunch of kids, and I really enjoyed hearing their thoughts on this book and literature in general.

Then there were the storytimes…  I’ve been mixing in new Toddler Storytimes here and there with the ones I’ve already created (usually four weeks of established lesson plans, then one week of a new plan, then back to old plans), and somehow I managed to schedule a new Toddler Storytime for this week, when I already had two book groups to prepare for and only Sunday off.  Bad planning, which resulted in me working all day Sunday and then skipping my drawing class on Monday night.  But in the end, this Circus storytime worked out quite well, though there was an added element that day: an early intervention teacher came to storytime to observe one of her students.  I wasn’t bothered by her presence, but I found myself observing this teacher while she observed her student, which distracted me a wee bit. 

Tuesday’s Infant Storytime was full to bursting, and it was one of those storytimes where I finished really feeling like I was on my game, that I had turned out a pretty successful program.  There was a lot of positive energy in the room that day, and most of the kids were about the same age, which always makes the program run more smoothly.  Not to mention that there was a great bunch of grownups in the room who stayed on top of monitoring their small charges.  I really appreciate it when the other adults in the room keep the kids from crossing my “invisible line” that runs just in front of my feet, because it is SO hard to stay focused on my presentation when there is an adorable little person trying to dig one of my stuffed animals or musical instruments out of the bags by my chair.  Thank you, everyone!

Wednesday’s infant storytime wasn’t such a success, though.  I don’t know what it was, maybe it was leftover migraine ditziness from the afternoon before, but I was just not as good as I’d like.  Same exact lesson plan as Tuesday, but I didn’t do as well with the material as I did on Tuesday.  Go figure.

And then there was the Preschool Storytime on Thursday.  Usually I have a good sized crowd for this storytime, and since it was week three of my rotation – the most popular week, art week – I thought I’d have a full house.  But the weather was unseasonably lovely, and I think everyone decided to go to the playground.  In the end, only one family attended: two siblings of the right age for the storytime, a much younger sibling, and their nanny.  The nanny, who I’ve gotten to know in the past few weeks (she’s new to the family, but clearly not new to being a nanny), did a great job of sitting with the youngest sibling through the stories, then subtly removing him and herself from the room once it was time for art.  And the other two siblings and I had such a giggly good time creating “Pumpkin Mystery Faces” from MaryAnn Kohl’s book.  First I showed them how we could play around with the pumpkin’s features by using my felt board (I had figured this would be the best way to introduce the art project to the group without prejudicing their art, since felt is definitely different from paper), then we moved over to the tables and cut out black construction paper eyes, noses, and other shapes.  I had already primed our bucket full of paper shapes, so once the kids were ready to move on to the actual project, it was easy enough for them to root around in the bucket (no peeking!) and pull out shapes to plop down on their orange paper circles.  We laughed and laughed at the funny faces we made, and then eventually I brought out the glue so that each child could take a pumpkin face home.  The sister, who is five, made a very recognizable jack o’ lantern, but the boy, who is just four, had a massively good time layering on as much glue and black paper as he could, until the orange circle was heavy with both.

Game Hour was run by four fabulous teen volunteers, so that I only had to keep an ear and eye out for the group to make sure that everything was going well in there.  We’re getting quite a group of Game Hour regulars, and boy do they have a great time playing games together.

And last, but certainly not least, Greg McAdams came on Wednesday to present his Halloween Magic Safety Show.  Greg has come to the library two other times in my tenure, and each time I’ve been very impressed by his ability to establish good behavior ground rules in a way that is firm yet funny.  And I love that Greg mixes in a healthy dose of humor and talk about books and libraries with his magic.  I had wondered how Greg would mix Halloween safety messages into his show – would it be too didactic? – but his talk about safety was very subtle and spot-on.  I saw a lot of parents nodding happily when he talked about staying with your group when you’re trick-or-treating, letting your parents check your candy before you eat any of it, using a flashlight, and not talking to strangers.  Thanks Greg – you did an awesome job!

Of course there was a lot more to my week than these eight programs, but it’s almost eight and I haven’t had dinner, so you’ll just have to wait for the funny and cute stories from the rest of my week.

Book groups

October book groups

Here are the book choices for October:

3rd grade:  Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume

4th grade:  The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

5th grade:  Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

6th grade:  The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart

Teen (7th – 9th grade):  Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

The 3rd grade and teen groups will be meeting this week.  I’m enjoying reading Flora Segunda, and I’m looking forward to hearing what Jennifer thinks of Soupy Saturdays.  I’ll post entries on each book group meeting as soon as I’m able.

Book groups, Spare time - Culture

Bookstore, Abby’s version

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Recently, my brother wrote this great post on his blog about a visit he made to a bookstore.  I went to my favorite used book store on Saturday, and had adventures of my own that are worth relating:

As I walked in the door of the Barrow Bookstore, there was an intense young man talking to the staff person on duty – talking and talking and talking.  He was the kind of young man in his early twenties who thinks he’s really intelligent, but isn’t, and he kept going on about a friend of his [insert friend’s name here, for name-dropping purposes] who would really like to attend the author festival that had left its brochures at the bookstore and could he take a few brochures for his friend?  He was also filling out a request form for some Ezra Pound book that he was looking for, and took forever at the task, all the while expounding on Pound.

I might not have noticed him so much, but I had gone into the store with the express purpose of finding a copy of the Images of America book on Carlisle (Jim is leading a tour of Carlisle on Wednesday, and needed to do some research).  Because of the talkative young man, I had to hang out and wait, and of course I went over to the children’s section, something I was trying to avoid, and of course I immediately found two books I could not possibly live without.  Hoping to avoid further financial damage, I willed the young man to shut up and go away; it took a while for him to respond to my telepathic proddings, but eventually he went off to browse and I got to ask my Carlisle book question.

The store didn’t have the Carlisle book I was looking for, so the staff person (we’ll call her Adele) and I headed over to ring up the two books I had found.  I told Adele I was so very glad to find a copy of The Diamond in the Window, since it’s out of print and it’s a book that I like to use with my book groups, and then we chatted pleasantly about libraries until she saw my second book, Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel, and we bonded on our love for Kenneth Oppel’s work.

“You know,” said Adele, “We get a lot of review copies of children’s books here, and a whole bunch just came in – they’re on that cart over there…”  So of course I went over to look, and found two more books I just couldn’t live without, and as Adele was ringing those in the young man came over to make his exit.  He blabbered and blabbered and blabbered, and Adele gave me the look of a long-suffering shop clerk who just wants to get rid of an annoying customer and move on with her day.

“Do you have any business cards? Because I’d love to give a card to my friend X…” started the young man.  While he was still blathering, Adele handed him a stack of the store’s bookmarks, almost shutting him up.  But then he started going on about how he’d definitely be back, what a great store, he’d probably come back for those books in a few days, maybe on Tuesday, but he’d definitely be back, that book on Pound was terrific, what a great store…

Adele interrupted him with a pleasant smile as she nodded her head towards me and said, “She’s been shopping here for years.”  Another pleasant smile.  And the young man finally left, thank goodness, as another man came in to the store.

The second man, a pretentious snot in his early fifties, looked at Adele and said, “Oh, you’re still here?”  Adele looked confused, long-suffering, and surprised at the same time, as the pretentious man continued, “Last time I was here you sounded like you were ready to pack up and move on.”

“Oh, must have been having a bad d…” started Adele, but she couldn’t even finish her thought, because the man broke in.

“Guess whose birthday is today?  And no, it’s not mine!” he said.  “Sophia Peabody.  They’re having quite the big to-do up in Salem today.”

“Mmmmm…” Adele and I both started to comment on that, but the pretentious man talked over us.

“Though why anyone would celebrate her birthday is beyond me,” he said.  “What the heck did she ever do?”

“She married that gorgeous man…” said Adele.

“And she made him happy.”  I added.

“Exactly!!” said Adele, as the obnoxious man snorted in derision.  “Exactly!!!  Those two had a wonderfully happy marriage, even though they were very poor for most of it.”

And Adele and I shared a look that spoke volumes about women in our society, about fame, about what’s important in life, as the twitty old snot made some sort of scornful comment in the background.

And then I left, and drove to Fern’s Country Store in Carlisle, where I found the book that Jim needed; and then I went home to my terrific husband, who had spent his day digging four foot holes and mixing cement for the footers for our new front steps.

Book groups, Children

A big thank you

I shouldn’t pick favorites, but – I LOVE the sixth grade book group.  These kids have been in my book groups since I started them three years ago, and this group constantly amazes me with their good humor, great discussion skills, and literary insights.

At last Tuesday’s book group, two of the kids surprised me with a card and two cookies.  Here’s what the card says:

Thank You!  (heart shape here)

Dear Abby,

Just a quick thank you for how awesome you’ve been.  U ROCK!

Sincerely,

M—– & S————  🙂

(I gave the cookies 🙂 )

And then, down the inside left of the card:

Awesome

Bodacious

Bodacious x2

Young

Now there’s a few things a girl likes to hear!  Not just bodacious, but bodacious times two, AND I’m awesome and young.  That card TOTALLY made my day.  Thanks, girls!

Book groups, Children's book reviews

Tunnels

On Tuesday, the sixth grade book group will be discussing Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams.  I’ve been reading this book over the last week and half, and I’m surprised by how impressed I am by it.  It’s not the greatest piece of literature I’ve ever read, but its unexpected plot turns and grim, dark atmosphere make it compelling and involving in a totally unique way.

Two thumbs up from this reader for Tunnels – go find yourself a copy and let me know what you think of it.  And I’ll post the sixth graders’ reactions to the book here later in the week…

Book groups, Children's book reviews

Ranger’s Apprentice

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For last week’s Teen Book Group, we read The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan, first in the Ranger’s Apprentice series.  I’d been meaning to read this book for a while, just so I could know what the kids are so excited about (the series is extremely popular at the library), but hadn’t gotten around to it until C. suggested it as a book group book.  And now I am completely and totally hooked, and have read the first three books in the series (The Ruins of Gorlan, The Burning Bridge, The Ice-Bound Land) and am on my way to pick up the fourth book, The Battle For Skandia.

What’s so great about these books?  I’ll admit that they’re not the best-written or best-edited books ever, but that’s not what they purport to be: they’re bestsellers, and proud of it, and better written than many bestsellers that I’ve read.  Flanagan is a master of drama and plot, and also does a great job creating and developing his characters.  I love that his characters have very real flaws, like Halt, the adult who should know better, encouraging young Horace to beat up the bullies who had been tormenting him.  And his characters grow and develop and surprise even themselves (think Horace at the end of book two here).

But what I love most about this series is that Flanagan doesn’t fall into the Harry Potter trap of structuring each book the same way (i.e., each of the Harry Potter books covered one year of school at Hogwarts).  Flanagan could easily have had each of his books cover a year of Will’s apprenticeship, with each year culminating in a Big Battle of some sort, but instead he wisely chose to write the series as one adventure leading into the next.  Without giving too much away, I was pleased to see that Will and Halt are not existing as apprentice and master at the end of the third book; they are separated, and the story is the better for it.  I can’t guess where we’re headed in the fourth book, and that makes me want to read it even more (now I understand the frustration of the series’ fans who know the next book has been published in Australia, but not yet here in the U.S.).

The Teen Book Group also loved The Ruins of Gorlan, and several of the book group members have become hooked on the series.  We unanimously agreed that the books are engaging, fun, and exciting, and we all thanked C. for recommending them.  The group’s only complaint?  The cover art is too dull and doesn’t draw you in.  After much discussion, we decided that the cover art for the British versions of the books is by far the best (the Australian covers are too young, the American covers are too dark and boring).  Bad cover art, though, is a pretty minor flaw, and it was refreshing to have found a book that we could all agree on and enjoy.  And now it’s time for me to go pick up that fourth book…

Book groups, Children's book reviews

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

[attempting to recreate the mythical Best Written Blog Post Ever (see previous post)…although my frustration is such this will probably become quite truncated and brief]

After my disappointment with Envy, it was gratifying to pick up 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.  Fresh, original, funny, and well-balanced, 100 Cupboards is a unique piece of fantasy, with some mystery thrown in.  Wilson spends a great deal of time letting his readers get to know his characters, most of whom are quirky, and none of whom are a “type.”  Our hero is Henry York, a twelve-year-old Bostonian who has been transplanted to his aunt and uncle’s farm in Kansas after the kidnapping of his travel-writing parents while on assignment.  Henry’s parents have over-protected and under-loved him, forcing him to do things like wear a helmet to gym class and sit in a booster car seat at his mature age, but never letting him enjoy the finer points of youth and indulge in such unsafe practices as playing a game of neighborhood baseball.

Moving to Kansas is an eye-opening experience for Henry.  Aunt Dotty and Uncle Frank have three daughters (Henrietta, Penny, and Anastasia), and live their lives in a state of happy chaos.  Uncle Frank – my favorite character – speaks little but wisely, and pursues interesting business opportunities like selling tumbleweed at auction online.  Aunt Dotty, a loving and kind woman, appreciates her soft spoken husband and loves her girls without smothering them.  The three girls range from older Penny to twelve-year-old Henrietta to the annoying (but sweet) youngest sister Anastasia. 

Though some blogging critics have complained that Wilson spends too long setting up the story, and too little time on the actual “action” of the story, I love that I’m given a chance to bond with these wonderful characters before the fantasy elements of the story kick into full gear.  Since I’d gotten to know Henry and Henrietta so well, the suspense was ramped up ten notches when they found themselves facing a wall of cupboard doors that open into other worlds.  Each time Henrietta carelessly opened that door to evil Endor, my breath caught and my heart raced.  When Henrietta disappeared and Henry had to plunge into another world in an attempt to find her, I was right there alongside him.  The story wouldn’t have been nearly so exciting if I hadn’t been so bonded with the characters.

But for me, the very best part of 100 Cupboards is the humor.  It is very, very funny.  At one point in the sixth grade book group meeting, one of the kids reminded us all of a particular funny scene, and the whole group fell into paroxysms of laughter remembering that scene.  Humor plus fully developed characters plus a dash of mystery (most of the kids in the book group kept referring to the book as a mystery) plus original fantasy – mixed all together, these ingredients make for one of the best books I’ve read in recent months.  And the book group liked it, too.

One final tidbit:  one of the library’s best-read kids, an intelligent and popular sixth grader who plows through every book that his mom and I can find for him, said this to me the other day when his mom told him that the sequel to 100 Cupboards was out and that I had put a hold on it for him:  “YES!!!!!!  Abby, you are AWESOME!!!!!  You are the BEST!!!!!!!”  And he said it loud.  And he said it in front of all of his cool friends.  Any book (and its sequel) that can garner that kind of enthusiasm from a sixth grader is a-ok by me.