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Family Book Club: April Edition
April showers may bring May flowers, but April also brings new growth as trees blossom, buds emerge, and bulbs sprout from the ground. Foster new growth in your own family by planning some time for a Family Book Club, and nurture your kids’ budding interest in books. With longer evenings on the horizon, everyone in the family can squeeze in a little extra reading time. Here are several picks this month for you to enjoy together as a family (along with setting and snack recommendations!). Read, discuss, repeat!
Ships in 1-2 days.
Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk
Bullying, lying, maturing, and loving family are just some of the universal themes that run through this award-winning book. Set in rural Pennsylvania in 1943, 12-year-old Annabelle is bullied by new girl Betty and tries to hide the truth about what is happening to her, and around her. But she eventually tells her parents, and the book reveals the truth about cruel intentions, kind individuals, and the naiveté of childhood. Destined to be a new classic, parents will think of To Kill a Mockingbird when reading this book.
When you gather the family for the book club meeting, make an Apple Brown Betty. A slightly sweet apple dish made from household staples, it was a popular wartime ration recipe. Serve with some freshly squeezed homemade lemonade.
Questions for discussion:
• Why does Annabelle lie? What other characters are lying in the story?
• Why does Annabelle befriend Toby? Why is the camera so important to Toby?
• How does the war affect life in Wolf Hollow?
• Have you ever witnessed prejudice in your life?
Baseball Genius, by Tim Green and Derek Jeter
Jalen loves being on the travelling baseball team, but can’t afford to play with his teammates any longer unless he comes up with some fast money. As a kid who really loves the sport, and has a secret talent at predicting pitches, he decides to break into a New York Yankee’s star player’s house to steal some baseballs. He figures they will fetch a lot of money. What he doesn’t figure is that once caught, the odds are against him as he works to find his way out of trouble and back onto the team.
Take your kids out to a ballpark style book club meeting. Hot dogs, sodas, popcorn, soft pretzels, and ice cream are on order. If you can swing it, head to an actual baseball game with the family to top it all off.
Questions for discussion:
• How does Jalen’s secret talent save him?
• How does his secret talent work against him?
• What special skill or talent do you have?
• How could Jalen have avoided stealing and still earned money to stay on the baseball team?
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
Slated for the big screen, the family needs to read this book together now before seeing the movie. Born with a facial deformity, August is finally starting mainstream school as a 5th grader. Desperate to be an ordinary kid, he struggles with the reactions of his classmates and community. Told from August’s point of view, as well as that of others, this novel is an all-encompassing look at courage, acceptance, understanding, and seeing someone for who they are, not what they look like. A compelling book on the nature of kindness.
For your book club meeting, pack a lunchbox for everyone and head to the local playground where you can talk about the book as you have “recess” and lunch. Bonus if it’s your school’s playground, so you can set the tone for kindness in a setting your kids are in every (school) day.
Questions for discussion:
• Why do people look away when they see August? How do you think this makes August feel?
• Why did August never go to school before now? Do you think he should have gone to school?
• Why does August like Halloween so much?
• How do things change from the beginning to the end of the year?
Ships in 1-2 days.
Mandy, by Julie Andrews Edwards
A book that has been around for decades, many parents may have read this story during their own childhoods, and can now revisit with their own children. Mandy is a ten-year-old orphan living with dozens of other kids at St. Martin’s Orphanage. Having lived there her whole life, she simply wants a home of her own. Mandy discovers a mini cottage in the woods behind the orphanage and begins to transform it into her very own place that she keeps secret from everyone else. But when she falls ill one night, she realizes her cottage was not so secret after all. A magical book filled with hope and written by the beloved star of Mary Poppins.
Prepare a mini feast for your family, with tiny sized bites. Think tea sandwiches, mini cookies, and bite-sized munchies. You can even try to transform a corner of your home into a cottage-style hideaway to transport everyone to the storybook setting.
Questions for discussion:
• Why do you think Mandy has always lived at the orphanage?
• Why does Mandy want a space of her own so badly?
• How do you think the tiny cottage makes Mandy feel when she is there?
• What is so special about the people who rescued Mandy?
Ships in 1-2 days.
Hidden Figures Young Readers Edition, by Margot Lee Shetterly
An acclaimed movie and bestselling adult book, Hidden Figures is also available as an edition perfect for middle grade readers. The women central to this true story are four African American “human computers” who worked tirelessly to help compute rocket launch numbers and calculate trajectories for getting astronauts into space. These mathematicians contributed to many missions and helped cement NASA’s place in history. The lives of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden are explored throughout the pages and tell about an important part of the space race era that is so often overlooked. An inspirational, and historical, read for the entire family.
Serve up some typical 1950’s and 60’s food—think casseroles and Jell-O molds—and show some old clips of rockets and shuttle launches. Finish off your book club meeting with astronaut ice cream, a freeze-dried treat available at most major outdoor or backpacking stores.
Questions for discussion:
• Who are hidden figures in the world around us right now?
• What do you know about oppression? How were the women oppressed in this book?
• How does education shape or improve these women’s lives?
• What discoveries do you think are yet to be made?
What books would you like to see in May’s Family Book Club?