Tag: book clubs

Shelf Awareness link is now working:)
Also President Obama, an avid reader, is launching a book club with Oprah Winfrey. Called the Double O Book Club, the joint venture will feature titles from “distressed” publishers and be tweeted from the White House.-–John Mutter

Just read this great little paragraph from Shelf Awareness. Can’t wait to see their selections. I never really participated in Oprah’s book club but adding my favorite president to the mix will make me read and write about it!!

J and I read a not-very-exciting book last night at bedtime, new from our public library; The Great Doughnut parade by Rebecca Bond. Here is the excerpt from the publisher:
“Just where is small Billy going? Why does he have a doughnut tied to his belt? Does he know he is being followed by, first, a hen (with a cluck, cluck, cluck), then a cat (all quiet and slinky), and, farther down Main Street, a band . . . and firemen? Then sign painters . . . brick layers . . . even cloud catchers! Author/illustrator Rebecca Bond reveals the truly marvelous things that can happen when a doughnut is tied up with string.

okay…I have to admit I have never once been curious about what might happen when a doughnut is tied to a string, especially tied to a belt loop…I did poll my family (we mostly all thought the doughnut would fall apart) and made my husband read the book to see if I was perchance missing something. He agreed with me; the book lacks imagination, a good rhyme scheme and as J put it “who would want to eat a doughnut after it has been bouncing back behind you?” Oops, now I’ve spoiled the ending for you. I’ve not read any of her other books and the illustrations by her were alright. I have to admit I was drawn in by just the word doughnut…sadly, just fluff.

The book blogging club at my school are reading this wonderfully brutal book by Deborah Ellis and they love it! The book has so many things my students don’t understand and they just read it and go “read it, it was good.” That’s it!! How can I get them to explore more, go deeper? I want them to have a greater aha moment with the book but maybe it is okay that they just like it. On their blog I have requested they find out more information yet they continue with one sentence comments, i.e. “why did they take him away when he didn’t do anything?” The writer is refering to the father being dragged off to prison by Taliban soldiers. It’s not a “bad” question, it is just not a deep question. This group has now read The Devil’s Arithmetic as well as this book and I am just waiting for this big amazing moment of comprehension and it may never come. Maybe it is just hidden inside them and it will appear next year when they go off to sixth grade.

I’m excited to begin this blog…something I have been wanting to create for two years and haven’t done!! Tina’s blog today was the catalyst for just doing it!! It also makes me feel behind…time to catch up! The latest adult book I read and loved was The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood! It was amazing to love it so much because it is such a sad book and made me shed tears, really cry, cry, cry!! The book made me focus a bit more on appreciating my wonderful children. I finished Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, which has been on my “to read” list for a year. I finally read it and thought it combined fairy tale themes with the Holocaust very well. I am excited to take home the Iowa Children’s Choice books for the summer and read those. My after-school student book club is reading The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I didn’t think this book was going to capture my attention as much as it does. It brings up many themes for our girl’s group to discuss, such as forced marriages, the desire to learn, money and how it makes the world go ’round and prejudices on many levels.
That’s all for now-