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!

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library: Thanks for being "game" to play

Clue:  Most sparsely populated country in Europe: Retain 1st letter + "S" =   ___    ____

Congratulations to the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club on solving the anagrams and puzzles and hunting through all the Dewey Decimals to find books with clue cards!  The solution was:

Your library is the key to open your eyes to the world!  Thanks to Mica for solving the extra puzzle contained in the book  -- an anagram using the first letters of each chapter! 

We had a great time discussing Chris Grabenstein's book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  We talked about libraries of the future -- and what other libraries are doing in other cities across the world.  iPads tethered to a table in the Children's area, loaded with literacy apps and games, libraries with green screens for making your own movie or music video -- instruments, recording software.  It's all coming faster than we think!

We voted between two AMAZING 2015 Red Maple Nominees -- Kenneth Oppel's The Boundless and Caroline Pignat's Unspeakable.  Both have compelling stories and of course despite Unspeakable getting all the votes, many of you took along a copy of The Boundless as well!

For those of you interested in the London Youth Advisory Council, nominations are being accepted until March   ,campaigning starts April 11, and voting is May 3 - 8th.  You must be 15-25 to stand as a Youth Councillor, and 13-25 years to vote!  Check out the website for details: http://www.lyac.ca/

Look forward to seeing you all in March -- we're meeting Wed. March 25 instead of during March Break.  7 - 8:30 pm, the usual time, in the usual place.

See you then!

Linda

Double the Fun: January 21 bookclub

Due to some dazed and confused state in November, I thought our January title was The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, with Outside In by Sarah Ellis being the runner up.  Sofia has kindly dropped by this afternoon to the branch to tell me of my error. 

So...half of us will have read The Underneath and half of us Outside In. This should make for a lively discussion!  I am almost finished Outside In and I am re-reading The Underneath so I should be in the loop...

We'll be doing a découpage project with a small typewriter table that will join the library's furniture collection.  Our project will be book-themed and we can all find images and photos from our collection of collaging materials.  Dress for mess!


Look forward to seeing you Wed. Jan. 21, 7 - 8:30 pm.  Snack will be provided as well - we'll need lots of energy to get cutting and pasting!


Linda B.

Loot...and The Dog Who Wouldn't Be

Our October and November titles both touched on what is "truth"?   Should we lie?  Is there such thing as a good lie?As Farley Mowat once said: “I will take any liberty I want with the facts so long as I don’t trespass on the truth.”

LOOT by Jude Watson
We had a great discussion about the book Loot back in October.   The book's main characters are twins -- March and Jules who meet for the first time shortly after the death of their father, Alfie McQuinn, a skilled jewel thief.  They have a rocky start to their relationship and given their upbringing, do not trust each other.  But they do try to avenge their father's death and there are some likeable characters who help out along the way. 

Some book club members were not convinced of the authenticity of the characters -- they seemed like caricatures at times.  Everyone agreed the action was fast-paced but it was difficult to connect with March and Jules on an emotional level because they weren't fully fleshed out.  Where the plot was thin, the book made up for it with laughs and some great Alfie quotes!

We made jewelry as we talked -- paper beads fine enough that they just may have had appeal to a novice jewel thief!  We rolled beautiful patterned paper and discarded books into colourful beads, which we then strung on embroidery thread.  These necklaces do not take much time to make -- and just need a little patience, paper/discarded book pages, a pencil or souvlaki stick and glue or podge -- and some thread!
Some simple directions are here: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Paper-Beads

THE DOG WHO WOULDN'T BE by Farley Mowat
We watched a short video interview by Sandra Martin of Farley Mowat on The Globe and Mail's website called "In His Own Words: The Life and Times of Farley Mowat".  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/acclaimed-canadian-author-farley-mowat-dead-at-92/article18511064/

This launched a discussion about creative non-fiction versus non-fiction.  Everyone enjoyed the humour in Mowat's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be -- many of us laughed out loud while reading the book.  But as it was supposed to be autobiographical, some of us were compelled to look at the dates given in the book, and to try to figure out how old Farley was at various points, but we realized that he was very loose with the historical timeline!  It all made sense when we watched this interview -- and coming to terms with what Farley deems the truth -- the emotional truth of an event or issue versus the factual truth.

Given the brilliant use of language in the book, we played a word definition game "Balderdash".  We had a lot of fun inventing meanings of words that are rarely used in everyday conversation!  It was fun to try to guess who made which definition up!  There were definitely some patterns based on our interests and tastes...Fun game!  And played with some very fun and creative mothers and daughters!

THE UNDERNEATH by Kathi Appelt is our January title -- we'll be meeting on January 21st, 7 - 8:30 pm.   Set in the Bayou, this Newbery Honor Book tells the story of loyalty and friendship between an old hound dog, a mama cat and her two kittens.  Look forward to discussing the horrible Gar-Face, mean owner of that sweet dog!

If you are looking for reading over the holidays, try one of the 2015 nominees for the Red Maple Award or White Pine Award -- follow the links to the books and borrow them while they are still in the library!  The book we read last spring The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten is a White Pine 2015 nominee!! Bravo!

See you in 2015!

Linda

Welcome Back! October book: Loot by Jude Watson

We had a great start to the new school year -- we created a banner featuring flags for each member.  It is now hanging in the Masonville Library's Teen Annex.  We still have a spot for two more Mother-Daughter pairs so if you know of anyone interested, they can contact staff at 519-660-4646.

We will meet Wednesday, October 15, 7-8:30 pm to discuss Jude Watson's Loot: How to Steal a Fortune.  Our craft activity will definitely be jewelry heist inspired!  Hmm, wonder what snack might be appropriate...

You can check out Jude Watson's blog here: http://judewatsonbooks.com/loot/

Look forward to discussing this fast-paced book with you all.  I loved all of Alfie's quotes of wisdom:

Never trust a guy who says “Trust me.”
If there’s no way out, find a way.
If people were meant to look back, they’d be owls.
Do it any way you want, but don’t do it stupid.

No matter how good you are, kid, remember this: Sometimes you get caught.

See you next month!

Looking for something else to read in the meantime?  Consider subscribing to the London Public Library's Teen Scene eNewsletter (click link to view current issue).  You can click here to subscribe!

Happy autumn!

Linda

New Mother Daughter Session starts...Wed. Sept. 17!

Hope everyone had a great summer!  The new Mother Daughter Book Club session at Masonville starts on Wednesday, September 17, 7 - 8:30 pm in the Sam Neill Room.  Registration is now live so you can visit www.londonpubliclibrary.ca or follow this link to register.  You can also register in person at the branch (30 North Centre Rd.) or call us at 519-660-4646.

There were so many new books to read this summer, and the time flew by!  It was great to listen to many of come to the library to report on what you were reading in the Get Caught Reading program --  from James Dashner's The Maze Runner series to revisiting Veronica Roth's Divergent series to Marie Lu's Legend books.  Yes, series were popular this summer -- it felt like you had the characters with you at the beach, in the park and on the couch!

I'm looking forward to reading some new titles and old favourites and learning about what you'd like to read!

I have some cool crafts and activities in the planning stages -- and I'm always open to suggestions on what you'd like to explore or skills you'd like to learn.





See you all Wednesday, September 17!  If you have any questions about the book club or registering, drop me a line at linda.bussiere@lpl.london.on.ca. or call the branch at 519-660-4646. 

Linda

Spring Has Sprung...Final Bookclub of season this evening

We'll be meeting this evening at 6:15 pm -- a bit early so we can play a quick hot potato game with book prizes (!) while we chat about My Name is Parvana by Deborah Ellis AND The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  Then we're watching a movie!  Popcorn, chips, pop & juice! 

Thank you to all mothers and daughters in the Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club -- it's been a wonderful time sharing stories and crafts and games with you during the last few months.

But you can still read over the summer and tell us all about it!  Starting Sat. June 21 you can register for G.C.R. -- Get Caught Reading program.  Drop in to the library to share what you've been reading, and get a ballot for a weekly draw!  You can also complete fun challenges this year to earn an extra ballot -- more chances to win cool gift cards! 

We'll have teen programs at Masonville Library during the summer too -- drop by to watch a teen movie on our big screen on Thursday, July 10, 6:30 - 8:30 pm (bring a friend and your own snack) and bring your favourite music so you can DJ a few songs at our Be A D.J. Button-Making Event -- yes, we're making buttons and cool collage cards on Tues. July 15, 7 - 8:30 pm, while we listen to awesome tunes and a light snack will be provided.  Don't forget to check out the weekly Awesome Box at any London Public Library location! Just for teens, you can play a game or do a craft or build something any time you are at the library.  Check it out in any LPL Teen Annex!

Registration begins Sept. 3 for the Sept 2014- May 2015 Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club  Always the 3rd Wednesday of the month, the first session will be Wed. Sept. 17, 7 - 8:30 pm.  No session in Dec.

Look forward to seeing everyone this evening!

Linda B.

We had a small but mighty group on Wed. April 16th to discuss Evan Munday's Dead Kids Detective Agency.  We had some character trading cards with Morna, Derek, Tabitha, Cyril and the other dead kids, as well as October Schwartz herself! 

We had fun creating blackout poetry -- using pages of discarded books and a sharpie we erased or blacked out excess words to keep the finest to create a poem!  In keeping with the writerly theme we also created poems from magnetic poetry!  We did not play Scrabble as much as Mr. Schwartz would have liked us too...

Our next meeting is our last for this year -- we'll register the Mother Daughter Book Club again for fall starting on Wed. Sept. 3.  First session will be Wed. Sept. 17 -- we'll meet the third Wednesday from Sept 2014 until May 2015, but no session in December.  Register both mother's name and daughter's name -- and we'll see you in September.

But for May!  We couldn't decide on My Name is Parvana by Deborah Ellis OR The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, so everyone took both!  Read whichever one you like and we'll discuss both!  We will also be watching a movie for our last session -- you can vote on which title on our Doodle poll.  I'll email you the link.  The Elegance of the Hedgehog?  Frozen?  The Mortal Instruments?

See you Wed. May 21, 6:15- - 8:30 pm -- we'll meet earlier to accommodate movie watching and we'll have lots of chips, popcorn, pop and juice on hand.  Bring a friend too if you like!

Linda B.

We met last evening on Wednesday, March 19, to discuss Teresa Toten's Governor General Award Winner The Unlike Hero of Room 13B.  Adam Spencer Ross, the main character who suffers from OCD, was deemed by some of the mothers and daughters to be beyond-his-years in maturity, but most of us attributed that to his home life and his malady.

We were all intrigued by Adam's Lists that he gives to his doctor Chuck as a effort towards dealing with his OCD.  Lying, liars and lies were central to Adam's lists as he tried to cover up his OCD and his mother's mental illness.  "Everybody lies, son.  Everybody."  Teresa Toten has a great website, you can check it out here.

So of course we had to play "Two Lies and a Truth" at Book Club.  There were lots of laughs as we voted on which 3 Facts stated by our members were lies or truths.  We had some skilled liars among us!    And some exciting personal facts:
One mom had once played hockey with Wayne Gretzky.  And almost met JFK Jr.!
One daughter was born in an examining room.
One mom did not run away at age 15, but did still play with Barbies at age 13.
One mom was not in a rock band.
One daughter was not born in Moscow, but her mom did once write for the Toronto Star.

Thanks to Sofia for an excellent tip on a short film called Mr. Hublot, which features a steam-punk world, a lonely man with OCD and a charming dog.  The lonely man trying to save the little dog reminded us of Adam, our Unlikely Hero, who was able to triumph over his fears to save his mother.  The truth did finally come out and allow Adam to heal.

Adam's struggle and Teresa Toten's book actually ended up helping me finish the lyrics to a song I was working on.  You never know what aspects of your life will be inspired and changed by a book!

Next up: We'll be meeting on Wednesday, April 16th, 7 - 8:30 pm and this month we're reading a mystery -- Evan Munday's The Dead Kid Detective Agency.  Evan Munday's blog "I Don't Like Mundays" is worth checking out, you can also learn more about the book on the publisher, ECW Press's website.  

PS  Close runner-up to our April book was Rachel Hartman's White Pine 2014 nominee Seraphina.  Several members walked away with both books, so we'll likely talk a bit about both!  Both novels are written by cartoonists and feature a mystery that needs solving.

For those of you who can never find enough books to read, be sure to visit the LPL Teen "Books and Magazines" section and subscribe to the Teen Scene Newletter (free! right to your email!) for great reading suggestions.

See you in April!

Linda B.

We're meeting this coming Wednesday, February 19th, 7 - 8:30 pm!  We'll be discussing Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There (1871).  

Get ready to practice your backwards handwriting as we transcribe the poem Jabberwocky as Alice first read it in a book on the other side of the mirror.  We'll have mirrors on hand so we can proof-read our work!

We'll also put on a short Readers Theatre version of Chapter IV -- Tweedledum and Tweedledee -- all 16 members will have a part to read! Mothers too!

We all borrowed so many different versions of this title, some of the illustrators (Oxenbury, Newell, Ross) differed, but be sure to check out John Tenniel's original illustrations in this archived copy of the book, which is also available through Project Gutenberg.   Lewis Carroll actually illustrated his first Alice story, Alice in Wonderland, to begin with, but the publisher's suggested Tenniel, who also worked for Punch magazine on occasion, to take this work on.

You can read more about Through the Looking Glass on the very thorough Wikipedia entry.

Look forward to seeing you all in a few days!  Happy Family Day!

Linda B.

Our January bookclub started with a visit from London Public Library's Marketing Department, documenting an evening at the Masonville branch.  Thanks to Rita Verhulst for taking this wonderful photo of us all smiling!  

Masonville's Mother Daughter Bookclub, January 15, 2014

GRAPHIC NOVELS! What talented mothers and daughters!  We had a great time creating storyboards for our own graphic novel ideas after our discussion of the various books we'd read.

Instead of all reading the same graphic novel we each read a different one.  Some of us read manga , others chose books like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis -- we read everything from Pokemon to Essex County by Jeff Lemire.

• We discussed briefly whether or not there was a gender bias in boys having a preference for this format?  
• Some of us preferred to imagine characters and settings ourselves rather than see them drawn -- one participant said it was like preferring the book over the movie, you wanted to develop your own idea of the character in your mind. 
• Some of us were new to the experience of reading graphic novels and found it a challenge to read the illustrations while also taking in the text.

Some very creative and engaging stories were told and drawn when we settled down with storyboards and a few ideas on the whiteboard.  Theme/plot ideas to draw out stories for inspiration included:  The Argument, Shoplifting, Who Broke it?, Just Try it (On), The Blanket, Getting Lost, The Family Dinner, The (Car) Trip, How to Keep a Secret.  Each group created their own unique story.

SHOPPING FOR A DRESS FOR GRADE 8 GRADUATION:  One storyboard started with a memory. While the mother pleaded "Just try it on!", the daughter kept coming out of the change room in her street clothes after finding each dress did not fit with HER idea of a grad dress.  Big bows!  The wrong colour!  After driving home in tears of frustration (both mother and daughter) the pair decided to draw up a contract.  They arrived at agreed upon behaviour (for each of them!) that would work for success in finding the elusive graduation dress.  The contract worked!  In the last panel the daughter is happily wearing the PERFECT dress...

GRANDMOTHER'S CHAIR:  One mother daughter pair drew on a compelling story passed down through their family.  I had just finished reading Art Spiegelman's graphic novels Maus, so their graphic novel idea was particularly moving.  It was the story of a grandmother who protected her son (a member of the Belgian resistance) from arrest by not moving from her chair!

One evening the Gestapo stormed their home searching for evidence.  In fact, the son had come home with some important documents that would have linked him to the resistance but he had left them in his jacket pocket.  The grandmother was a large woman who loved to cook and eat! She sat, with a forbidding look to the Gestapo, in her usual chair.  While they searched and turned the house upside down they didn't dare ask the old grandmother to rise from her seat.  She stared them down.  The Gestapo left empty-handed.  Where were the documents?  Where was the jacket?  Hanging right on the back of Grandmother's chair -- she had been sitting on the pocket of the coat, right on top of the papers the whole while! What a story!  Perhaps some day this duo will finish their drawings and get it published!

There were some lighthearted, funny stories too -- a floating toaster in outer space, a glass owl ornament sitting on a mantel that somehow ended up in pieces on the floor...We could have drawn and told stories all evening!  Great collaborations!

FEBRUARY TITLE:

• Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass.  This will be put on as a play adapted by James Reaney (Canadian poet, playwright who was born in Stratford but lived for many years here in London)  this season at the Stratford Festival! 
• As a special treat, on Tuesday, March 11, Stratford will offer an Alice Through the Looking Glass workshop for ages 9 - 12 years right here at the Masonville library.  If you have younger siblings or are 12, you can register starting March 1st.  
• Meanwhile, we'll have fun on Wed. February 19, 7 - 8:30 pm discussing this classic and creating a whimsical craft!

MARCH TITLE:  Governor General Award Winning novel The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten!  Check out Teresa's website!  You can pick up your copy at our next meeting: Wed. Feb. 19, 7 pm in the Neill Room.

Cheers,
Linda B.

For our January 15, 2014 meeting we'll be talking about graphic novels & sharing our experiences trying this format for those who are new to it!  While we read Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, it may be different reading a book told in pictures and speech bubbles.  What I do remember from our Wonderstruck discussion was how talented you all were at "reading" the pictures.  I'll have to pay close attention this time.

At our November meeting everyone chose a different graphic novel -- or agreed to seek out a graphic novel that intrigued them!  If you haven't decided, here's a list of children's graphic novels and a list of the teen graphic novels at London Public Library.

The Oxford dictionary online defines the graphic novel simply as "a novel in comic-strip format".  Comic books are different from the graphic novel because they tell a continuous or ongoing story that is often serialized in newspapers or other periodicals. 

Non-fiction books can also told in pictures -- in my first year of university back in 1983 I read Marx for Beginners by Rius, and learned all about Marx's theories through speech bubbles and pictures!  First published in 1976, this book is still in print!

Upon the recommendation of a Masonville regular who is in Grade 4 and cannot believe I've never read MANGA, I'm starting in on a manga book called Kingdom Hearts II, volume 1.  I am also reading Art Spiegelman's Maus books.

Can't wait to hear about the graphic novels you're reading.  We can try our hand at sketching and using speech bubbles to tell a story.  Look forward to seeing you all in January!


Linda B.

Thanks to everyone who joined us in our discussion of Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind!  It was wonderful to have Tania from Lambeth's Mother Daughter Book Club visiting - and to learn about her work with young people with autism and cerebral palsy.  How wonderful too to hear the work of all our mother members -- everyone had worked in some capacity with special needs children and had so many insights from their experience to add to our discussion.  Thanks to all our teens for their honesty and reflection on their own views of those with physical and mental challenges.  When Tania asked if this book had changed the way we thought about disabilities we all agreed it did. 

Thanks to my friend Pat who loaned us his manual wheelchair, we were able to see all the barriers encountered -- whether it was not being able to reach the Terry Pratchett book we wanted, or the stares we may have had from strangers.

Here's the link to the video about Carly from Toronto who is autistic and whose world was changed by finding her voice through a computer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNZVV4Ciccg

Thanks for a wonderful discussion!  Look forward to our meeting in January! I'll add a blog just about Graphic Novels next week so we'll all be prepared to discuss this visual genre!

Thanks to all who came out and sewed books last week!  While we didn't write any spells or incantations from This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel, during the book club, we did have a great discussion about the book and about Oppel's inspiration Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.   Some mothers and daughters were inspired to read Oppel's sequel to This Dark Endeavour, Such Wicket Intent...

We voted on our next book and the decision was to read Sharon Draper's  Out of My Mind. 

 Can you imagine not being able to speak?   Eleven-year old Melody has a photographic memory and is super smart but because of her cerebral palsy she is unable to talk.  Melody is the narrator of her own story, and we can feel her frustration with her, especially as she tries to adjust to school.  Are there mean girls in every school?!  We feel Melody's disappointments and triumphs as she makes her way through the school year.

You might want to check out Sharon Draper's author website, which has an excellent interview and great insight in the story:  http://sharondraper.com

See you Wednesday, November 20, 7 - 8:30 pm for the next Masonville Mother Daughter Book Club.  We won't be meeting in December, but don't forget to mark your 2014 calendars for an extra fun session on January 15 as we explore manga and graphic novels!

Cheers,

Linda