The Book of Lost Things — by John Connolly

I just finished The Book of Lost Things.  I mean, just now.  I usually wait a while before I sit down and review a book, but this couldn’t wait.  I’ve never read a book quite like this one.  I know it’s been reviewed like crazy out there, but I was turned onto this book by my friend Stephanie over at The Written Word. 

For those of you who don’t know, this is the story of 12-year-old David, a young boy who loses his mother during WWII.  Soon after his mother dies, his father remarries and has another son.  David is devasted.  He retreats into the books that he enjoyed reading with his mother.  Soon, he finds himself in a world of fairy tales.  David must journey through this violent world to find his way back home.

I’m not even sure what to say about this book.  I went into it with very high expectations based on what I heard about it and I wasn’t disappointed.  As the story is being set up, I found myself marveled by the descriptions and language that the author used.  This is not something I usually pay attention to while I read.  John Connolly definitely has a gift with the English language.

As David enters this violent world, I found myself dumbfounded.  I was entralled with the story and wondered how it was going to end.  I enjoyed recognizing the different fairy tales as they made appearances in the story.  However, I found myself slightly shocked by how these stories were changed to fit the book.  The fairy tales were not the Disney versions that I grew up with.  The changes were appropriate to the novel, but also disturbing, as they were meant to be.

This is more than a fairy tale book.  It is the story about David growing from a jealous boy into a responsible man.  A coming-of-age story is nothing new.  But, John Connolly’s approach to telling it surely is.  David’s journey through a violent world was very poignant in symbolizing the often “violent” act of growing up.  It was beautifully done.

In the version of the book Stephanie loaned me, there is an interview with the author at the end.  Then, the author includes information about the fairy tales that he used in the book, citing how each one helped further David’s story.  This was fascinating and added to the novel tremendously. 

I really want to have my mother (a former English teacher and consummate book lover) read this book.  I’m sure she will be fascinated by it even more than I was.  I can’t wait to share it with her.  And, Stephanie, thanks again for sharing it with me.

Another List of Books

I found this list over at Care’s Online Book Club.  She found it somewhere else, who found it somewhere else.  So, this list has been around!  I wanted to join in.  According to sources (which ones??), the average adult has read only 6 of these popular 100 books.  How many have you read?

The instructions:
Look at the list and
Bold those you have read.
Italicize those you intend to read.
Underline the books you LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (It’s on it’s way from bookmooch!)
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible (not cover to cover, but I’ve read parts)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell (although I typed my friend’s paper about this book in HS)
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (I’ve read a few in school.  My favorite being A Midsummers Night Dream)
15. Rebecca — Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (I didn’t read it, but I did my 11th grade research paper on it and got an A!)
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31.  Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicals of Narnia - CS Lewis 

34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

 37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (My husband told me the small stories I read to the kids don’t count!)
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare 
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

 Well, I’ve read 26 (and some so long ago, I don’t remember much).  But, there are some on my TBR list.  I’ll have to update as I go!

The Next Thing on My List — by Jill Smolinski

Our August book club pick was The Next Thing on My List  by Jill Smolinski.  I, as usual, didn’t vote for it, but after reading it, I’m glad it was this month’s pick.  It was an endearing read I finished in one day!

This is the story of June, a 34-year-writer who is just coasting through life and not really living until……she’s in a car accident that kills the passenger, Marissa, a girl she just met at a Weight Watchers meeting.  As she goes through the woman’s purse getting it ready to give back to her parents, June finds a list entitled, “20 Things to Do by my 25th Birthday.”  Because she feels guilty, June decides to finish the woman’s list and gives herself until the girl’s 25th birthday to complete it, only a few months away.

At the beginning of the book, I found myself thinking this was a silly idea, reminiscent of The Bucket List.  However, as the story progressed, it became apparent there was a stroy here, not just a list of things to do.  I enjoyed how June’s character developed as she scrambled to finish the list.  It was interesting how June worked so hard to remain loyal to Marissa as she attempted to fulfill Marissa’s dreams.  June learned a lot about herself and others as she completed the tasks.

The story line with the “little sister” was a little contrived, though.  In addition, some of the relationships that June develops as a result of this list seem a little unbelievable.  She starts the book as basically a loner with one friend to having significant relationships with several different people.  I do understand that the author was trying to show June’s development as a person through the use of these developing relationships, but sometimes I think she included too many for such a short period of time.

There were a few plot twists in the book.  Some I saw coming from a mile away.  The author wasn’t too subtle in foreshadowing them.  However, for others, I was pleasantly surprised.  Although, I noticed the foreshadowing after the fact. 

Overall, I tought this was an entertaining story of a young woman finding herself in an interesting manner.  It was fun.

The Reincarnationist — by M. J. Rose

Thanks to a review from fellow book blogger, Booking Mama, I finally picked up The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose at the library.  I have a lot of books on my TBR that I found over at Booking Mama.  She has good taste in books!

Anyway, The Reincarnationist is about a photographer named Josh who was hurt in a bombing in Rome.  During his recovery, Josh starts to experince vivid memories, but the memories aren’t his.  They are of a priest from 1600 years ago and a young man in the 1800s.  No doctor can find anything wrong with Josh.  He sets out to figure out if he is experiencing past-life regressions, even though he doesn’t know if he believes in reincarnation.  He joins up with the Phonix Foundation, that studies reincarnation, to try to figure out what is happening to him.  Because of his memories, he gets involved in a mystery surrounding the Memory Stones and trying to right “wrongs” from his past lives. 

For me, the book started out a little slow.  It didn’t grab me right away like I expected after reading Booking Mama’s review.  Josh wasn’t the most likable character I’ve read about, but I didn’t dislike him either.  I really was indifferent toward him.  That made it a little difficult to get attached to the story.

However, as the book progressed, the author did a better job developing Josh and his relationships with the other characters.  In the beginning, he seems all alone with no desire to connect with anyone.  Once he does start to connect, he becomes more likable and someone with whom it was easier to identify.

The last third of the book was exciting.  I raced through this part of the book because I couldn’t wait to see what happened.  I kept guessing who I thought was involved in the “highjacking” (I won’t say more about that so I don’t spoil anything) and I thought I had it figured out.  But, there was a twist, a good twist, not a ridiculous twist that made no sense. 

The ending is a tear-jerker and not quite what I expected (or even hoped for).  But, it was a perfect ending. 

So, in summary, if you get through the first third of the book, which isn’t awful, but not very grabbing, you’ll be glad you did.  The second two-thirds are worth the wait.  And, the ending is, as I said before, perfect. 

Thanks, Booking Mama, for the review.

Me, Joining a Book Challenge??

Believe it or not, I’m not much of a joiner.  I’m not sure why.  It’s not lack of interest.  I always think about joining, but never do. Well, today I’m going to change that.  I’m going to join the New Classics Challenge hosted by Lost in a Good Story.  It’s my first challenge and I’m excited.

What it entails is going the the Entertainment Weekly’s list of 100 best reads between 1983-2008.  We are supposed to list the books from the magazine, bold the ones we’ve already read, and pick six to read between August 1, 2008 and January, 2009.  Of course, we should review the books we read on our blog.  In January, we have to vote on the book we like the best and write a post about why we favor that one. 

So, here’s the list with the bolded ones I’ve already read:

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (199
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (198
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (199
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (198
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (199
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (198
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (198
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (199
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (199
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (199
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (199
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (198
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Now, looking back, I can’t believe I’ve only read nine of these books. What have I’ve been reading?   

I’m not sure which ones I’ll read, but I’ll probably start with Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert since I just bought that one last weekend.  Which ones would you recommend??

Wish me luck and I’ll keep you updated.

I’ve Been Tagged Again!

Amanda over at The Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker tagged me to do a meme.  It looked like fun, so I thought I’d participate.

Rules:
1. Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

I don’t know if I’m intersting enough to come up with six, but here we go:

1.  I really don’t like to re-read most books.  Of course, there are a special few that don’t fit here, but I won’t re-read most books, even if I barely remember what it was about.  If I have an inkling I’ve read it, I put it away.

2.  I constantly check my email during the week.  I don’t even have that many people I email with, but I’m obsessed with checking it.  However, on the weekends, I often forget to even think about it.

3.  I read instead of cleaning my house. 

4.  I used to live for summer, now I can’t wait until September!

5.  I’ve actually started making plans based on how much gas it will take to get there and back.

6.  I used to watch TV hours and hours a day.  Now, I can hardly stand it.  There’s nothing on!! (unless you count Hannah Montana, which I am a fan).

Well, that’s it.  Reading back on these, I’m definitely getting old. 

Tag, you’re it:

1. Katherine at A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore

2. Heather at Book Addiction 

3. Fuzzycricket  (I know I just tagged you with the classics meme, but I’d be interested in your answers to this one, too).

4. Arleigh at Historical Fiction

5.  Julie P. at Booking Mama

6.  Anna at Diary of An Eccentric

Okay, ladies, I look forward to your lists!

Christ the Lord Out of Egypt — by Anne Rice

When I think of Anne Rice, I think of Interview with a Vampire.  Well, that’s not all Anne Rice is about.  A woman at my bookclub kept talking about Anne Rice’s Christian fiction about the early days of Jesus Christ.  She highly recommened the books.  So, I headed over to bookmooch to see what books I could find.  Christ the Lord Out of Egypt was available and I received it quickly. 

This book is about seven-year-old Jesus when he is just starting to realize he’s different.  His family has been in Egypt for the past seven years after fleeing Bethlehem.  Joseph has decided, after a visit from an angel, that it’s time to take Jesus home to the Holy Land.

This book is fiction.  However, Anne Rice includes an extensive author’s note at the end of the novel that discusses how she got into writing about Jesus and the extensive research she has done. 

It was a very good story.  Although, maybe, it was a little too graphic for me.  Rice’s descriptions of the fighting in the temple was very graphic.  This made for a very vivid and disturbing image. 

 Jesus was an amazing child, but a child nonetheless.  It was interesting how Rice made a point of portraying Jesus as a HUMAN child.  I felt compassion for the young Jesus as he tried to understand his special powers and tried to understand what happened surrounding his birth.   He doesn’t know how to find out the answers to his questions since his parents have forbade him to ask questions about it.  I was touched by Jesus’ reaction when he learned about what happened in Bethlehem when Herod heard from the Wise Men that Jesus was born.

Saying that, this book disturbed me on some level.  I guess I wasn’t sure if it should have been written.  And, I’m not sure why I’m feeling that way.  I think it helps make Jesus more real to people.  But, part of me felt like it was sacriligious.  Again, not sure why. 

Either way, I found this book to be thought-provoking.  While I won’t be running out to get more of Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord books, I may revisit them in the future. 

Book Classics Meme

I was tagged for this one by Heather at Book Addiction.  Here goes:

What is the best classic you were “forced” to read in school (and why)?  I don’t know if this counts, but I had to read Gone With the Wind for summer reading one year.  I loved it!!  To this day, I smile when I think about Scarlet and Rhett and their volatile relationship and strong personalities.  I really enjoyed the movie, too. 

What was the worst classic you were forced to endure (and why)?    I was asked to read lots of books in MS and HS that I just never read.  I didn’t become an avid reader until graduate school.  I used it as an escape from the never-ending academic reading.  But, I do remember in eighth grade being forced to read The Last of the Mohicans.  My mom actually read it with me because I couldn’t get through it.  We made up a song about how hard it was.  In HS, I figured out how to get good grades w/o reading the books.  Just pay attention in class and you’ll ace the tests!

Which classic should every student be required to read (and why)?  I think To Kill a Mockingbird should be required.  It exposes people to important issues between the races.

Which classic should be put to rest immediately (and why)?    Okay, brace yourself, I don’t understand all the Shakespeare stuff.  I know lots of people love it, but I wish I didn’t have to be exposed to so much of it in school. 

**Bonus** Why do you think certain books become “classics”?  I think the writing, of course, is key.  Also, the use of metaphor, symbolism, etc. always seems to help.  I don’t always get a lot of that stuff and, therefore, sometimes have trouble with the “classics.”

I’m supposed to tag 5 people.  Here we go:  Stephanie at The Written Word, Fuzzycricket, Lisamm at Books on the Brain, Elizabeth C. at extensive reading, and Serena at Savy verse and Wit.  Enjoy!!

Joshua Henkin - Author Contact & Contests

 

I was very excited today to get an email from Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony.  After reading several blog posts about this book and an interview he did on Books on the Brain, I’ve wanted to read his book. 

Well, Joshua Henkin saw on my blog that I was interested in his book, but was waiting until it came out in paperback.  So, he has offered to send me a signed, hardcover book for my very own.  Yeah Me!  Plus, he has graciously offered to send me a signed paperback copy for a giveaway on this blog!  Yeah Me and You!!

I also want to add that I’m excited that an author has read my blog and says he enjoys it.  Isn’t that great??!!  It’s fun to know people are reading, especially people so involved in the “book world.”

Anyway, I’ve never had a contest before and I will be setting this one up later in the summer.  So, check back often.

And, while I’m on the subject of contests, Booking Mama, is having a contest to win Maggie Again by John D. Hudson.  Her review of this book made me definitely want to read it!  It’s a time travel book about a woman named Maggie who moves from Indiana to NYC in the early 1900s.  There’s defintitely more to it and you should check out her review and contest.  I would love to read this one with my mother, who moved to NJ from Indiana when she was in her early 20s to marry my dad.  I know it was a culture shock for her and I think this book would stimulate some good conversation between us.

Just added:  I just found another contest over at Books on the Brain to win some beach reads.  The author, Elin Hilderbrand, summarizes the book, Barefoot, for you.

Another Contest Found:  This contest is amazing.  It includes 14 summer reads from different genres.  Check it out over at Bookshipper!

Kindergarten Book Club Update

     Well, we just had our fourth meeting of the Kindergarten book club.  Overall, the book club has been a success, I think.  All the girls seem to be enjoying it, except my little one, who is very controlling.  If things are not exactly as she wants it, she doesn’t want to participate.

      Our second book club meeting, summer, was held as someone else’s house.  At first, my daughter didn’t want to go because she thought it was HER book club since she started it.  She did come around and she participated at that meeting.  That mom picked out the book, There’s a Dolphin in the Grand Canal, a story about a little boy who sees a dolphin in the Grand Canal in Venice by John Bemelmans Marciano .  It was a cute story which exposed our little girls to a new country.  Afterwards, the girls decorated visors to protect themselves this summer and then snacked on fruit and Italian Ice (went well with the story). 

     After we finished, it was time to pick a theme for the following week.  My daughter wanted ballet, but she was out-voted (like I often am at my own book club) and pets became the theme.  My little one was not happy.

      Pets week was back at our house.  We passed out paper cats of different colors.  Then we read a poem about cats where each girl had to hold up there colored cat when their color was read in the poem. 

Then, we read Princess Justina Albertina, by Ellen Dee Davidson and Michael Chesworth, about a princess that wanted a special pet.  We then made dog tags to wear and completed a pet riddle book.  We snacked on gold fish and Scooby dog bone snacks (graham crackers shaped like dog bones).  My daughter actually ended up having a good time.  And, she convinced her friends to vote for ballet for the next theme.

     This week was ballet, what my daughter was waiting for.  But, since she was mad at me, she didn’t participate.  So, I ran the book club for the other girls that showed up.  We played freeze dance (to HSM), practiced dancing slow to slower music and fast to faster music. 

We read Belinda Begins Ballet, by Amy Young, about a girl with really big feet who becomes a dancer.  We then colored pictures of Angelina Ballerina and decorated door hangers with ballerina stickers for the girls to hand on their bedroom doors (since Belinda practiced her ballet in her room).  Finally, we snacked on fruit and water, since ballerinas needed healthy snacks.  Of course, my daughter joined the group for snack and playtime.

     While I thought I may end the book club because I was having issues with my girl, all the other moms assured me that their girls really like it.  So, on we go. Plus, I think my daughter could use some practice with groups.

      My friend is hosting next week with the theme of butterflies!