Secrets series, Spring & Farewells!

We had a small but lively bookclub on April 20.  We had a suitcase with clues of famous authors so we could guess their identities with just a few clues, just as the orphans of  the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls had to do! Some of us had read a few titles from the series  - Shattered Glass, Small Bones, A Big Dose of Lucky and My Life Before Me.  http://www.readthesecrets.com/

The Neill Room at the Masonville Branch now has two different art collections of work by members of the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club -- in addition to the wonderful archive book we created, this leaves a great legacy behind as we all move out into the world.

Wednesday, May 18 will be the "Concluding chapter" in the 8th year of of the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club! The book club started in September 2008 under the direction of librarian Lindsay Holdsworth, who is now Lindsay Harris, with two beautiful small children! It continued later under Jessica Kipp, and since November 2012 with me, Linda Bussière.  Lately our book club members lives have become increasingly busy, and our numbers declined significantly.   In addition, I am about to embark on a year's leave of absence, so we thought we bid farewell on a high note!

The Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club read close to 70 titles all told, we've repeated only one book: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett read in January 2010 and April 2013. 

We read TWO books by each of these THREE authors:  Kenneth Oppel (The Boundless, This Dark Endeavour); Deborah Ellis (My Name is Parvana, The Breadwinner); Lewis Carroll (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland).

It has been exciting and a learning experience for me as a librarian to have shared so many books with you all.  Both mothers and daughters had wise and insightful comments on not just the books we read, but on life!  We did crafts together, put on a Reader's Theatre play, watched movies and traded stories.  We learned about each other and ourselves through the books we read. 

Thank you to all who participated and to the staff at the Masonville Library who supported this program.  Here's to a lifelong love of books and libraries wherever you are and wherever your lives take you!

All the best,
Linda B.

"The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library." -- Albert Einstein

The Night Gardener

"A story helps folks face the world, even when it frightens 'em.  And a lie does the opposite.  It helps you hide." - Molly, p.278, The Night Gardener

We had a special set up on the table in our program room:  a small forest of trees -- a version of the Sourwoods, and a gardener's spade.  It certainly set the tone for the discussion!  One participant said Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener was a book she couldn't read at night -- very nightmare inducing!

We watched a short video interview with Jonathan Auxier and learned that it was a little sketch of Molly, going to bed in a drafty room with wind blowing through, and dry leaves, and a Thump! Thump! Thump! that started him on the journey that led to the creation of this story.  No wonder we all found this story scary...

We wondered why Auxier's little portrait of Molly didn't make it into the book -- it is illustrated by Patrick Arrasmith.  But it was fascinating to learn Auxier's writing process -- he has over 30 sketch books and is already sketching stories for his upcoming book.

Speaking of stories, I had a story to tell about how I found the Secret series.  I was browsing in the Masonville Library Teen Annex when I picked up Teresa Toten's Shattered Glass because of the cool record on the cover.  I read the back cover -- after a fire destroys the orphanage she grew up in, Toni leaves for the city to discover her past.  It sounded intriguing. I  tucked it into my basket.  Then I saw Vicki Grant's new book Small Bones. It has a cool vintage looking cover with polka dot shoes.  I love polka dots and I'm a fan of Vicki Grant so I read the back cover: "Dot was happy living through her daydreams until the orphanage she calls home burns down..." What!?!!?!

It was then I noticed the similarity of these book covers -- the back cover's silhouette of a girl and the website:  www.readthesecrets.com.  Wow!  I knew these books had to be our next bookclub choice! 

Teresa Toten in an interview with the Montreal Gazette spoke about how she got the idea for the series -- she was envious of Seven Series that Eric Walters developed around the story of a grandfather who leaves his 7 grandsons 7 tasks to complete.

Each book club member was welcome to browse the 7 books that make up this wonderful "Secrets" series from Orca Book Publishers. If a front cover grabbed them, or a back cover description, the book was their choice.  Since we aren't meeting in March, we'll all have time to read at least one or two titles from this series. If you missed the February meeting -- drop by my office to select a book!

So I'm really looking forward to April 20 when we learn all about these 7 girls leaving the burnt wreckage of their orphanage and the safety of their friendships with each other to go out into the big, wide world.    Dot, Toni, Malou, Cady, Tess, Sara & Betty.  Seven girls.  Seven authors.  Teresa Toten, Eric Walters, Vicki Grant, Kathy Kacer, Kelley Armstrong, Nora McClintock & Marthe Jocelyn.

Read more about this exciting series here: www.readthesecrets.com.   Look forward to seeing everyone Wednesday, April 20. 

Sadly, I am announcing that our final Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club will take place on Wednesday, May 18, 2016.  We've seen many families thrive in this bookclub -- and eventually move on to highschool and beyond.  We hope to reinvent the book club as a tween bookclub (Grades 6 - 8) in the fall. 

Thank you for all the wonderful times we've spent together reading!  Here's to a lifelong love of reading -- and to all the mothers and daughters who have shared the joys of reading in the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club since September 2008.

January...and on to February 2016!

We had a good discussion about Flora & Ulysses by Kate di Camillo on January 20th!  So many wonderful quotes in that book! Such wonderful illustrations!  Di Camillo's book has been called "genre-bending" because of the integration of text and graphic novel in one.  We loved the idea of a squirrel as a superhero.
Yes, this quirky book features a squirrel Ulysses who, besides being able to fly, has the superpower of being able to write poetry on a typewriter! All powers gained by being vacuumed up a high-end household Ulysses 2000X.  Di Camillo says she was inspired by her own mother's love of her upright vacuum cleaner. Be sure to check out "the story behind the story" on Di Camillo's website!  

We had an old fashioned manual typewriter on hand for book club members to try typing quotes or whatever (!).   It made it easy for the girls to imagine how long their mothers took to write their English essays on these old things!  White out!
We made bookmarks integrating some of the amazing quotes in Flora & Ulysses:
 "Holy unanticipated occurrences!"
"All words at all times, true or false, whispered or shouted, are clues to the workings of the human heart."

We all loved the characters in this book -- from the sunglasses wearing-temporarily blinded William Spiver to the gentle loving eccentric Dr. Meescham. "Take this squirrel, for instance.  Ulysses.  Do I believe he can type poetry? Sure, I do believe it.  There is much more beauty in the world if I believe such a thing is possible."

For our February books we voted between Brian Selznick's The Marvels and award-winning The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.    It turns out most of us (being huge Brian Selznick fans!) had already read The Marvels, so were keen to read The Night Gardener.   Of course those who hadn't yet read The Marvels took copies of both titles -- always a keen group of readers!

Look forward to seeing you all Wed. Feb. 17, 7 - 8:30 pm at the Masonville Library, 30 North Centre Road. 
NOTE: If you would like to join the book club please contact us at 519-660-4646 to register!

November book: The Nest by Kenneth Oppel!

Thanks to everyone who came out to October's meeting to discuss The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden by Phillipa Dowding!  We all enjoyed hearing Dowding's account of "A Birth of A Children's Author" from her blog -- especially about how she came to write her first Gargoyle book, and her daughter's response after reading the first finished draft: How did YOU write this?

We spent our craft time creating a display for our November book...The Nest by Kenneth Oppel!  We had started ahead of time some papier maché wasp nests.  HarperCollins kindly sent us some wonderful things to create a display including a blowup of the book cover, a giant Window cling featuring wasps!, bookmarks, and our favourite: wasp tattoos!

We had fun popping the balloons to free the wasp nests -- and then we had a whole pile of sticks gathered from the backyard, along with cutouts of wasps, embroidery floss, string and we set to work!

Our display ended up including the windows in our Teen Annex along with the back door (!) and a wonderful swirling ceiling display of 3 of the wasp nests.  We tucked battery-operated tea lights inside for an extra eerie feel!

Can't wait to share our thoughts about this book at our November meeting.  Since we read David Almond's Skelling last year we may find some parallels between these two stories.  Both feature a main character -- a boy -- who finds himself a big brother to a very ill newborn baby. Kenneth Oppel's website has a wonderful book trailer, an excerpt and excellent discussion guide.  Artwork is by the amazingly talented award-winning illustrator and writer Jon Klassen.

Have a look at the London Public Library Facebook page to view a short movie of the floating The Nest Display at Masonville Library!  Be sure to check London Public Library's posts on Twitter and keep checking in at the hashtag #NestContest to see other amazing displays by bookstores and libraries for Kenneth Oppel's The Nest!

See you Mother & Daughters on Wednesday, November 18, 7 - 8:30 pm in the Neill Room!

Linda B.

The Fault in Our Stars: You Can Never Have Too Much Kleenex

While many of us had already read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, it was wonderful to revisit it.  Some of us tried to read it in French!  Yes, you still need Kleenex even as you read it for the second or third time.

The other book choice was Richard Scimger and Marthe Jocelyn's Viminy Crowe's Comic Book.  This is a fast-paced adventure that truly brings comics to life -- the characters in the book realize they are "in" a comic book.  They turn the page to save themselves from the next peril.  Everyone who read it liked this one!

As this was our final session for the year, we watched the movie The Fault in Our Stars, complete with snacks!  We bid farewell to our Mother Daughter Book Club members -- see you in September. But of course several of them we see for the amazing Get Caught Reading program all summer :)

We'll resume the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club on Wednesday, September 16th -- hope to see you there!  If you are a huge Brian Selznick fan you'll want to be on the lookout for his new book which releases September 15: The Marvels!

Skellig: How do you deal with grief and strong emotions?

Our April book was Skellig by David Almond.  This Printz Honor-winning novel makes a wonderful read-aloud.  I remember sitting outside the first week school finished, on a hot July day reading it to my three children.  They wouldn't let me put it down to pour lemonade! 

Skellig is the story of 10 year old Michael who has two big life changes in a short time -- his family move house, and his mother has a baby girl.  Sadly, the new baby is very ill and is in hospital just as the family are trying to renovate and settle into their new home.  Michael is befriended by a fascinating homeschooled girl Mina, who loves William Blake and drawing.  Michael is told by his father not to go near the dilapidated old wooden shed at the back of the garden.  Of course Michael does.  Inside he discovers a mysterious creature, who along with Mina help Michael overcome his fears and worries.

We had a great time sketching and drawing, in the spirit of Mina and Michael!  Spring is sprung!

March: Transportation Inspired Art!

We read The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel, and Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat.  Both were Red Maple nominees for 2015 -- however the Oppel book was in the juvenile fiction section, whereas Pignat's in the Teen Annex fiction section.

As some of our members are in Grade 6 and 7, we had a member in Grade 10 quite concerned about some upsetting content in Unspeakable.  We won't spoil the plot for you, it is revealed early on in the story that a main character has been raped.  On their own, the younger members of the group preferred to read The Boundless, so it all worked out.

Both stories involved main characters who were pretending to be someone or something they were not -- in The Boundless, Will Everett takes on the identity of an East Indian circus performer, and in Unspeakable, Ellie Ryan who is from the upper middle class, becomes employed as a maid on board a ship.

We had a great evening creating collages on canvases which we painted blue.  We used images and words from discarded books, old magazines and incorporated selections from a wonderful collection of postage stamps donated by a Masonville patron.  These pieces hung in the Teen Annex of the Masonville Library for 6 months.

Be sure to check out Caroline Pignat's informative website & Kenneth Oppel's marvelous website!