My Life as a Book

The Children's Book Club selection for May was My Life as a Book, by Janet Tashjian with cartoons by her son, Jake Tashjian.

This story, set in modern-day California and Martha's Vineyard, tells the struggle that reluctant reader Derek has with completing his summer reading AND staying out of trouble. His antics include pelting avocados at the mail truck, playing with a trained monkey that is under his veterinarian mother's care, and generally trying to cause as much havoc as possible. It is only when Derek stumbles upon a faded newspaper article about a drowning in Martha's Vineyard a decade before that he becomes focused on a task: to find out the truth about the drowned teenager in the article. This quest leads Derek 3,000 miles from home and further away from completing his summer reading. Derek must decide which is more important.

This book has been compared to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Although both are about mischievous boys and use cartoons, the Book Club felt that Kinney's books use the drawings to highlight the action and add to the story while Tashjian's drawings are more a method of explaining, in picture, some of the harder vocabulary words within the book.

There was no group consensus on My Life as a Book. Some of the club members felt that this was a really interesting read, combining humor with mystery in order to create a unique reading experience. Other club members thought that the story jumped around too much to be truly enjoyable.

June's Children's Book Club selection is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. This book was a Rhode Island Children's Book Award (Rooster Games) nominee for 2011 and is the Kids Reading Across Rhode Island book. (Grace Lin will be speaking on Saturday, May 14 at the RI State House) The Book Club is excited to read this fairy-tale adventure set in medieval China!

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

This month, the Book Club read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted by Malvina G. Vogel with illustrations by Brendan Lynch). There were three separate short stories in this volume: The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.

Unfortunately, our group found several problems with this book. First of all, it should be mentioned that everyone agreed that the book was too easy to read for our group's age bracket. There were too many pictures and not enough words...these kids want to READ! Other issues with the book can be summed up in some of the comments made:

Nick: "It was too British...I didn't like Sherlock because he was too annoying."

Ben: "Sherlock was too full of himself. He brags a lot and he is too nerdy."

Liam: "The plots of the stories were too revised."

However, there were some positive comments about the book:

Cameron: "The stories were awesome because they had snakes...Sherlock and Watson didn't know what was going to happpen but I did!"

Liam: "I liked that they solved mysteries."

Alas, this was not one of the better reviewed books that our club has read. Here's hoping that next month's book, My Life as a Book, fares better!

Toward the end of the discussion, Miss Lisa handed out materials that were adapted from a Scholastic, Inc. exercise. These worksheets highlighted the "Ingredients for a Mystery" and the steps to "Planning Your Mystery" through determining the Setting, the Problem, the Suspects, the Detective, the Clues, and a Sequence of Events. These worksheets are a great way to get kids to write their own stories.

Please check back soon for the submitted mysteries, written by our very own Book Club authors!

The Giant-Slayer

In March, the Book Club read The Giant-Slayer by Iain Lawrence. This tale, set in 1950's Massachusetts in the midst of the polio epidemic sweeping America, works on multiple levels. It is a historical fiction account of a specific time and place in history, with characters either battling polio or worried that they might get the disease. The main protagonist, Laurie Valentine, spends much of her time on the polio ward, visiting her sick friend. It is there that she meets the other patients in their iron lungs and begins to weave a magical story of a tiny boy (not young, but tiny) who sets off to slay a giant in order to gain acceptance. The back and forth narration, between the 1950's and a time long ago, keeps readers on their toes, drawing similarities between the past and present, and between their lives and those characters in Laurie's tale.

As a group, we found this book to be well-written but too confusing for the grade levels we cover. The whole idea of polio is foreign to the group and much time was spent in discussing polio itself and the iron lung "treatment." The jumping back and forth between stories was also a little too complex. We'll wait and try to re-read this in a couple of years as the adults who read it just raved about the book!

The Doll People

Today’s Book Club was filled with laughter and a little bit of mayhem, perfect for the subject of our discussion. The Doll People, by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, was a hit with our members. The adventures of Annabelle Doll, her family, and her new neighbors made for an entertaining read and lively meeting.

Everyone appreciated the themes of friendship and testing your comfort limits. Annabelle was able to stop being so bored and restless when she challenged her daily existence and opened her heart to an exciting, yet very different, new friend. And all of the Doll family were able to overcome their fear of the unknown in both their quest for Auntie Sarah and their acceptance of their new (both figurative and literal) neighbors.

We had a fun discussion of whether or not our dolls/toys/stuffed animals are real or not. The general opinion is that, yes, indeed, our beloved playthings do come to life while we sleep. So, next time you put down a toy, check to make sure that it’s in the same place the next time you go to play with it. Odds are, it might have had an adventure without you!

Our next Book Club meeting will be held Thursday, March 3rd from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please note the change in time.

A Tale Dark and Grimm

I forgot to post about the Book Club’s January meeting centered on a discussion of Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm. My bad. A brief overview: we all loved it!

Gidwitz cleverly weaves together various fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm in order to create a story both familiar and completely original. The book is thrilling, bloody, scary, funny, and just plain great! The reader feels the excitement that Hansel and Gretel experience as they run away from home and have their numerous adventures. The insertion of the narrator throughout the story, warning young kids away before especially scary sections, is a unique device which was appreciated by all of our readers.

We’d recommend this book to all readers, though not to the extremely faint of heart. Though even those readers might surprise themselves with courage borrowed from the brave Hansel and Gretel.

First Book Club Meeting

The brand new Book Club for kids in grades 3 through 5 kicked off yesterday with a meeting about The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. Loads of snacks were eaten and there was conversation a-plenty during this first meeting.

The book received rave reviews all around, scoring an average 5 out of 5 stars! The participants loved the humor, realistic emotions, and zaniness of Dwight, the outcast who doles out advice through his Yoda finger puppet. Opinion was divided on what was exactly the funniest moment in the book, though Dwight's horrible sweater vest was mentioned more than once.

As a group, we decided to next read A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz . We wanted to read a book that appears to be quite different from this month's read. So, please join us on Thursday, January 6th from 3:00-4:00 p.m. for another afternoon of discussion, fueled by tasty treats!

And keep your thinking caps on, because we still haven't decided on a Book Club name yet. Come with ideas!

Thanks to all of yesterday's participants. I'm looking forward to a fun new year of reading with you all!

Children's Book Club

Jamestown Philomenian Library is starting a book club for kids in elementary school who are interested in reading great works and talking about them with others.

Join us on Thursday, December 9th from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to discuss Tom Angleberger's recent book, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.

This discussion and craft session is geared toward kids grades 3-5.

Snacks will be provided, so come with a hungry mind and stomach!

This is an anticipated monthly event, so participants should come with ideas for future titles and a great book club name.

Register by Wednesday, December 8th with Miss Lisa at 423-7280 or jamlibkids@gmail.com.