Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater

The Locale: Cassie & Susan’s Home

The Book: More than 60 years have not dated this wonderfully absurd tale--it still makes kids (and parents) laugh out loud. Poor Mr. Popper isn't exactly unhappy; he just wishes he had seen something of the world before meeting Mrs. Popper and settling down. Most of all, he wishes he had seen the Poles, and spends his spare time between house-painting jobs reading all about polar explorations. Admiral Drake, in response to Mr. Popper's fan letter, sends him a penguin; life at 432 Proudfoot Avenue is never the same again. From one penguin living in the icebox, the Popper family grows to include 12 penguins, all of whom must be fed. Thus is born "Popper's Performing Penguins, First Time on Any Stage, Direct from the South Pole

The Fun: The girls made penguin charm pins and bracelets. Learning the meaning of new vocabulary, words pulled from the book and looked. Then Cassie shared a related picture book, 365 Penguins, by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet, which all the girls took turns reading.

The Food: Shrimp and Gold Fish--just like what the penguins loved to eat, but of course our shrimp was in a cocktail and the gold fish were crackers. Desert was an ice cream cake shaped like an a ice berg. Yummy!

The Vote: Megan’s three books were The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas, The Monster Ring by Bruce Covelle, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Charlotte Doyle won. Runner up was The Monster Ring.

Up Next: Ida B by Katherine Hannigan, hosted at Odessa & AiYing’s house on February 6th.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Locale: Emma & Diana’s Home

The Book: Not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things. Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery. 
The Fun: Meeting at Emma’s was great fun! The girls paired off for interviews--One of the girls pretended to be the author while the other was the interviewer. At the end, the girls performed their interviews for their group. After that the girls discussed their favorite pictures in the book, and there were LOTS! Olivia’s mom brought a movie screen and projector and we got to view several You-Tube videos that Emma’s mom found, all which related to our book.

The Videos: 

• An Interview with the Author
• A Today Show Interview with the Author from Al Roker's Book Club for Kids
• Demonstration of the Franklin Institute Automaton
• The movie A Trip to the Moon by Georges Melies  
• A Train Arrives at the Station - very short - not by Melies but mentioned in the book as causing a riot when shown, as folks had never seen anything like it and thought the train was really headed toward them.

The Food: Yummy eats included cream puffs, brie cheese, chicken salad, and strawberries.

The Vote: Presented by Odessa - Blister by Susan Shreve, Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery, Ida B . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan. Ida B wins!

Up Next: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater at Cassie’s house on November 7th.

Double Fudge by Judy Blume

The Locale: Perri & TJ’s Home

The Book: Seventh-grader Peter Hatcher and his five-year-old brother, Fudge, travel with Mom & Dad to Washington, D.C so that Fudge, who has an obsession with money, can visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In this comical caper, the family unexpectedly run into distant cousins from Hawaii. The Howie Hatcher clan proves an eccentric lot. Peter's wry reactions to the sometimes outsize goings-on, Fudge's inimitable antics and the characters' rousing repartee contribute to the sprightly clip of this cheerful read.

The Fun: For the book club meeting at TJ & Perri’s house, the girls did a crossword puzzle about the book and a word scramble with definitions of some of the words in the book.

The Food: The food was two Edible Arrangements (the chocolate covered fruit was especially popular), zebra cakes, cheese puffs, and celery with peanut butter or cream cheese. These had nothing to do with the book but Perri was adamant that "Girls like Zebra Cakes and Cheese Puffs."

The Vote: Cassie presented her three choices for the girls to vote on--The Cupid Chronicles by Coleen Murtagh Paratore, Sassy (Little Sister is Not My Name) by Sharon M. Draper, and lastly, Mr. Poppers’ Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. The winner was... Mr. Poppers’ Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

Up Next: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick at Emma & Diana’s house.

Frindle by Andrew Clements

The Locale: Olivia & Susan’s Home

The Book: Frindle is about a boy named Nick who gets a into a squeeze with vocabulary teacher. His vocab teacher happens to LOVE the dictionary. Nick happens to LOVE being a goofball and a smart aleck in class. It’s is a terrific read. A boy too creative for the confines of elementary school meets his match in an extremely exacting teacher. They square off in an epic battle over…an invented word?

The Fun: Girls brought an item from home, for which they invented a new name, described for the group, and played a guessing game. They also took turns answering discussion questions from a handmade fortune-teller, and later, they broke up into groups to play a game in which they had to decide whether or not 10 words were made-up or real, looking them up in a dictionary after they made their guesses. We had lots of fun, and we really loved it when Emma said, as she walked out the door, “I’m going to make a matching ORF and SQUIRF with my CLICK-CLACKS,” matching hat and scarf with knitting needles for those who unable to attend.

The Food: Olivia and Susan served croissant sandwiches, chocolate cake, trail mix, and fruit with Nutella. Yum, Yum.

The Vote: Emma and Diana presented three books, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins by Jessica Burkhart, and The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. The girls voted, and the winner was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. We will be meeting on October 10th Emma and Diana’s home to discuss that book.

Up Next: Our next meeting will be at Perri and TJ’s house on September 12th, when we’ll discuss Double Fudge by Judy Blume.

WANTED: Girls Who Love to Read!

How It Started: At the end of the 08-09 school year, Olivia and Susan emailed and distributed flyers for the book club,

gather gals and moms who were interested. 

The Goal: Girls should be good readers--hopefully avid--with a parent who also loves to read. Moms would read the novel along with their daughter as well help plan and participate in fun activities at the book discussions.

How it Works: We had our first orientation meeting on June 27th, 2:00-4:00, at Olivia’s House. Meetings would occur every 4-8 weeks, depending upon the size of the novel. We would plan a couple of readings ahead, with everyone hosting once a year or so. As a the time to host approached, girls would research and recommend to the group three novels, emailing ahead of time titles and descriptions. Votes would be cast during meetings, and the book with the most votes wins. When hosting, munchies would be provided along with topics for discussion, and possibly a fun activity that would support the theme of the book. Meetings could be either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (TBD). 


Getting Going: During this orientation meeting and to get us moving forward, we planned our first two books. First, Olivia presented three books to the group--Frindle by Andrew Clements, The Little Princess by Francis Hogsdon Burnett, and Lady Margaret’s Ghost by Elizabeth McDavid Jones. Frindle won for first book. Next, Perri presented Double Fudge by Judy Blume, The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester, and Treasure Fever by Andy Griffiths. Double Fudge won for our second meeting.