Matilda book club, April

One of the things we loved about Matilda, and other Roald Dahl books, is the extreme characters and their extreme names, like Miss Honey and Miss Trunchbull. The girls got to make up names for their own characters and draw them. They got very creative!

The Landry News, January

We had a fun book club after reading the Landry News. The girls got to make their own newspaper, which turned out great, especially given they didn't have much time. And here are the girls being goofy.

The Hundred Dresses, November

This month we read The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. We had a good discussion about bullying, which was timely as October was Bullying Awareness month. This book was not their favorite -- it bothered them that the girls in the book were mean. However, they thought that it had an important message about bullying. They enjoyed the activity -- they got to use wallpaper samples to make their own dresses.

Hugo book club, September

This month we read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. This was different from any book we've read before, as much of the story is told with drawings. It's a big book! The girls all said that they were amazed (maybe intimidated?) by the size of the book when they first saw it. Now they are proud that they've read such a big book! It's a great story too -- all the girls said they would recommend it. We had planned to watch the movie "Hugo" together, but given limited time we decided we'll all watch it on our own time.

Here they are deep in conversation:

And here they are being silly:

Some old stuff

Here are a couple of photos from some of our first meetings. I believe the first picture was taken during our January book club when we read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. We all went together to the Sound of Music Singalong that night! The second photo is from the November meeting when we read Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

Number the Stars book club in August

We read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. It's a story about the Nazi occupation of Denmark during WWII, but mostly it's a story about friendship and bravery. The girls got to act out a new "last chapter" in which they imagined what it would have been like if Annemarie and Ellen and their families were reunited after the war.

Starry River of the Sky book club in May

Back in May, we read Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. This is the second book we've read by this author; the first was Year of the Dog. The girls really liked this book and got to act out one of the scenes. Here they are with the symbol of power on their foreheads, to keep away the five poisons!