After three club nights with only two or three members in attendance, our book club seems to be in danger of becoming extinct. How appropriate it is that our new junior member chose City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau for this month’s book selection. Please send your ideas, suggestions, and feedback before our lights go out!
Our book of the month was suggested by a librarian at Orem Public Library. It won the Newberry Honor Award in 2005. Here’s a little bit of what one reviewer had to say: “Believe it or not, this novel’s unusual setting is based on fact — the families of Alcatraz prison guards actually did live on the island. The author includes a helpful note explaining the historical facts behind the story, as well as a brief note about autism.What really makes this a winning novel, though, is not the setting but its main character. Moose, who narrates the story, is responsible and trustworthy in spite of himself. The love he feels for his sister despite the frustrations she causes him shines through all his words. The relationships among Moose, his hardworking father and his well-meaning mother are also rich and dynamic. Even without its connection to the famous mobster, AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS would still be a real hit.” — Reviewed by Norah Piehl
It’s mystery time again! We hear Mrs. Andrews is a great author, though she seems to have a strange obsession with birds.This month we will be picking from one of Donna Andrews’ mysteries. Come prepared to share your choice at next month’s meeting!
Per a member’s recommendation, in March we will be reading this fine new novel. Amazon has the scoop on it, just click on the picture below. See you all March 4 at 7:00 p.m. (same place). Please bring your own copy… AND a friend!
[Back cover summary]
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, Mr. March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. From vibrant New England to the sensuous antebellem South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott’s optimistic children’s novel. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as a renowned author of historical fiction.
Brooks is also the author of Year of Wonders–historical fiction about the London plague of 1666.
This is the first novel I’ve read by Pam Munoz Ryan. The topics of this book run pretty “deep” for a junior novel, but she handled them delicately without ever skirting the severity of the issues.
I loved the lessons that the children learned in this book. Love isn’t bought with things. Love comes from people who care for you and their simple acts of kindness, compassion, and understanding. Also, never give up! Love will triumph.
I definitely recommend this book! I’ve heard her others are good too, so go out and get one today.
This month’s novel is a sweet story about a young girl who loves to run and is experiencing the changes in the world around her.
Annie is trying to grasp an understanding of the simplest things of life–love of family, love of nature, love of running, love of friends. It took me back to my innocent days of discovery. Hopefully you will enjoy this beautifully composition!
Wow! It was quite an undertaking to read this novel. In other words, it was very long for a mother of 5 younguns. It is a very compelling historical novel about the early Latter-day Saints. Card dealt with some difficult “Mormon” topics and although some of what was written did not always ring true for me, it made for an interesting read.
“Seek not your destiny, for it is seeking you.” Just a week before their marriage, Christine’s fiance calls off the wedding, leaving her heartbroken. With hopes of helping her through a difficult time, Christine’s best friend Jessica enrolls them both on a humanitarian mission in Peru, to work at an orphanage called El Girasol — The Sunflower. It is while working at the orphanage that Christine meets Paul Cook, a successful and charismatic American doctor who has fled the States after one fatal day took away his career, his faith, and the woman he loved. Unplanned events lead Paul and Christine into the jungle of the Amazon, where Christine must confront her deepest fears, and she, and Paul, must both learn to trust and love again. [www.bookmovement.com]
When a thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India’s tradition or find the courage to oppose it. This novel won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in the year 2000.
