Letter Blocks

[#1]

I was searching for some pre-packaged mother/daughter book club kits to share here on Letter Blocks, when I discovered something even better: Heather Vogel Frederick's The Mother-Daughter Book Club series. The first book is titled The Mother-Daughter Book Club and is about a group of sixth-grade girls whose mothers decide they are all going to read Little Women together. If you know any sixth-graders, you can imagine how well this suggestion is received. Initially, the girls resist the book club and the book. They aren't even friends at school and share very few common interests. Emma is a bookworm and has already read the book, Cassidy is too busy trying out for the boy's hockey team, and Megan is worried what her popular friends will think of her hanging out with such losers. The club is even more difficult for Jess, whose mother is pursuing her career in New York and unable to join book club meetings.
 

The book starts off with a number of hilarious misadventures and pranks. Emma, who is constantly teased about her hand-me-down clothes, has her journal stolen and read aloud at school. Cassidy gets even by scaring the perpetrators in a spooky Halloween prank. Jess has her starring role in the school play ruined by loose barnyard animals, while Megan struggles with her mother's refusal to take her interest in fashion seriously. Slowly, as the four very different girls read Louisa May Alcott's classic about four very different sisters, the girls grow closer together and discover that their book club has enabled them to become good friends. Likewise, the mothers are able to put aside their differences and grow closer to one another and to their daughters.
 
The Mother-Daughter Book Club is geared towards readers ages 9-12 and features the heavy involvement of parental figures. Children's literature is notorious for orphaning its characters in order to give the children more latitude for adventure. While secondary to the girls, the parents are very important characters in this book. I was particularly touched by Jess's father, whose awkward attempts to fill the role of her missing mother offer some of the most comedic and poignant moments in the book. Set in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott lived, the book is stuffed with references to Alcott's life and work. However, it is not necessary to have read Little Women to enjoy the book. The Mother-Daughter Book Club offers tips for starting a book club, including discussion questions, and recipes for making treats.
 
Readers who plan to pair The Mother-Daughter Book Club as a companion to Little Women should know it contains some spoilers about Alcott's classic. I loved this book, which gave me a sense of being connected to other people and other books through a love of and joy in literature. It's this feeling—not just the social or monetary advantages of an education—that I want to be able to share with others. I can't wait to read the next two books in the series.

Sarah Wood, a reviewer for Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com since 2003, is a lifetime reader and writer. She refuses to accept that there are people who don't like to read and stubbornly believes this is only because they have not met the right book yet.

[#2]

Sarah,

I loved your article on the Mother-Daughter book club.  What a great thing to bring moms and daughters closer together! 

[#3]

Hi Sarah -

Thanks for the great review for Heather Vogel Frederick's The Mother-Daughter Book Club. Here's a suggestion as you look for book club kits. I publish http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.com where you can find recommendations for book clubs by the age of the girls. While the books aren't packaged together, looking at the list can give a club ideas for what to read during the year.

I also just published Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, October 2009) as a handbook for moms looking to start their own clubs. I've been in two clubs for many years, one with each of my daughters, and I know how they can hellp strengthen the bond between mothers and daughters. I'm always happy to take ideas for including helpful information on the website. I can be reached through the contact information listed there.

[#4]

Hello, and thank you both for your comments!

I found the Mother-Daughter Book Club website shortly after I finished Fredrick's book. Book by Book is a great resource, I will be covering it---along with other resources, and the rest of Fredrick's series---in an upcoming post.