This week we had our book club meeting and we had a great discussion about Cynthia Lord’s Newbery Award winning novel Rules.
I had 2 girls and 2 boys and one mom. The mom is awesome. She brings her 10 year old daughter and 8 year old son. They all read the book – sometimes their dad comes too! And they always volunteer to bring snacks – a Youth Librarian’s dream come true! They always have thoughtful comments. Even their son, who mostly comes for the snacks, will make a comment now and then to prove he read the book and got it and is actually paying attention to what we are talking about. I try to find questions and discussion guides online when I can. Sometimes there are activities, which the kids really like.
For this meeting, we discussed the book for about half and hour. They liked the book a lot and had some great insights. I love it when they really get something. It’s also interesting to hear their interpretation of the book. Sometimes I want to bring up all these themes and meanings, but I have to hold my tongue and let them do it. I usually try to pick out a few things to talk about in case the conversation lags. For the second half, they used two activity sheets from the first PDF link below and drew pictures to go with the words for “Jason’s” speech cards. While they drew, we talked about different ideas of how to visualize the words and a little more about the book. Snacks were goldfish (like on the cover – “No toys in the fish tank!”) and capri sun – always a classic. Next month we are discussing Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. I tried to pick something short since the first month back to school can be a bit overwhelming. Currently trying to find a good “scary-ish, mystery-type” book for October. I usually do books in the 9-12 age range. I would welcome any suggestions!
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