I’ve never been in a book club. But when my older daughter started wanting to read the mysteries from the adult floor of our library in fourth or fifth grade we started a club of sorts. She would check out books. I would read them wildly, sometimes all in one night searching for gratuitous sex and/or violence(she was ten), then turn the mom-approved books over to her. Suppertime conversations would often include a “Did you get to the part where…?” We moved on to reading Harry Potter aloud as well as many other books that one of us would give to the other with a recommendation. Sometimes we both liked them, sometimes not. But it often gave us something to talk about at a time when daughters just aren’t interested in talking to moms. She’s in college but we still occasionally pass books back and forth. And now my younger daughter has gotten in on the act. But it’s a whole different story. Instead of mysteries and fantasy, I’m reading non-fiction books about Eygpt and other ancient cultures. I wish I had started a decade earlier with them. If only someone had told me about mother-daughter book clubs. I’m out of daughters but am considering starting a book club with my young son in a few years.
If you think you might enjoy reading with your daughters, leave a comment by midnight EST on Wednesday, May 19 for a chance to win Cindy Hudson’s Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs. Check back on Friday, May 21 to see if you’re the winner!
Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs
Author: Cindy Hudson
Paperback: 312 pages(also available as Kindle)
Publisher: Seal Press (September 22, 2009)
Synposis:
Mothers and daughters share a special bond. . . why not further this bond through reading together? Book clubs have been growing in popularity over the past ten years, started by a variety of people with various interests and goals. Mother-daughter book clubs offer a great way for families to grow and share — with each other and with other mother-daughter pairs. In Book by Book Cindy Hudson offers all the how-to tips mothers need to start their own successful book clubs. Hudson offers her own firsthand experience as the founder of two long-running successful mother-daughter book clubs.
Hudson offers suggestions on books topics, club guidelines, and how to keep the club going as daughters grow older. How big should the club be? Whom should we invite? How often should we meet? How do we make sure we actually read the books? Hudson has all the answers. With recommended book lists (divided by four age groups), online resources, and suggested recipes for book-club treats, Book by Book is a great resource for helping moms and daughters form new memories and traditions.
Review:
Have you ever heard any idea that in theory sounds great…but in reality you have no idea how to pull it off? So many things fall into this category for me—including a mother-daughter book club. Hudson’s book covers everything I could think of from club size to club selections to extra activities to the problems that inevitably crop up with any group. What I like most about Hudson’s book, aside from the step by step instructions, is the openness of her plans. There is no “this is the right way to do it” directive. Instead Hudson allows readers to design their own group telling readers the advantages and disadvantages of each decision.
Hudson gives you everything you need to start your book club. In addition to suggestions about forming a group, there are book suggestions, discussion questions, favorite recipes for book club meetings. Throughout the book there are also quotes and stories from moms and daughters in book clubs together telling about their experiences. I can’t see how anyone can read this book and not want to at least give book clubbing with their daughtera try
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Thanks for the review. And let me know if you have questions while you contemplate a reading group with your son. These groups may pose a few extra challenges, but finding a way to regularly read and talk about books in a group with your child is worth it.
[...] Words by Webb [...]
With two voracious reader girls in the house (ages 9 & 11), I’m interested in this book! Thanks for the helpful review.
I recently recommended to an adult friend Lies of the Heart by Michelle Boyajian.
For my daughter, I recommended Harriet the Spy…and now have a spy running around my house!
Thank you for the giveaway and this great site,
Elizabeth
I read to all my girls (4 of them) when they were young. Now, with children of their own, we are starting a new Grandmother, Mother, Daughter/Granddaughter reading group. Love the conversations!
This looks like a great book! What do I do if my son’s the voracious reader and my daughter’s…not? (Though she is a strong reader, she just doesn’t spend time with books like I wish she would!) Good luck to you all!
Kristine,
I once had a children’s librarian tell me that we push kids too much to read what WE want them to read–classics, books with a message, etc. that we should just let them go, keep trying different kinds of books and they’ll find what they want whether it be comic books or cookbooks or in my younger daughter’s case travel guides! She was never interested in reading for fun either, until a geography class in 5th grade made her crazy for other countries and the travel books that introduced her to these countries. So you never know what’ll turn your children on to reading!
great idea! we’re still working out way through Junie B Jones but I can see how fast time flies.