An update from our sixth Stone Soup Book Club meeting! This week, in Book Club, we began discussing Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper. This is the story of a 10-year-old girl with Cerebral Palsy. She is extremely intelligent but struggles to communicate her thoughts—she cannot speak, write, or walk. We began our session talking in small groups about the importance of words. We discussed the role words play in our lives, whether words are more valued verbally or written, and how we might try to communicate without the ability to speak or move our bodies. We went on to discuss the strength of Melody as the main character and the role of the many companion characters the author uses to tell her story. We also talked about what we considered the core themes of the book, including perseverance, courage, strength, the importance of friendship, and our deep human yearning to communicate with others. Next week, we are so excited to be joined by Adam Gidwitz, author of The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, for the first part of our session. Please come prepared with a few questions about the book, if you read it, or writing more generally. Since we have only a short time with Mr. Gidwitz, please keep in mind that everyone may not have the opportunity to ask a question directly. Following our time with Adam Gidwitz, we will continue discussing Out of My Mind and conclude by voting on the next one or two books we will read in Book Club. The Participants: Anya, Georgia, Lena, Vishnu, Rachel, Lucy, Joanna, Djin, Enni, Kaya, Allegra, Arianna, Katie, Zoe, Penelope, Em Jay, Isabel, Chloe The Stone Soup Book Club is open to all Stone Soup contributors and subscribers, age 9-13, during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements. We meet every Wednesday for one hour via Zoom to discuss our chosen book.
Book Club
Book Club Report: The Inquisitor’s Tale, by Adam Gidwitz (cont.)
An Update from our fifth Stone Soup Book Club meeting This week, during our 5th meeting of the Stone Soup Book Club (13 May, 2020), we discussed The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, by Adam Gidwitz. Our fantastic Stone Soup contributor, Anya Geist, led the session through a stimulating discussion on the various themes, plot twists, and favorite characters of this complex story. We discussed book banning, tolerance and diversity, religion, race, and a range of other interesting themes the book touches upon. We also spent time discussing how the perspective and structure of the book affects the story. Gidwitz takes an intertextual approach to the narration with a range of quirky characters telling of their own encounters with the main characters and their own versions of key events. I think we all agree this is part of what makes the story so very rich and exciting! The Participants: Anya, Lucy, Georgia, Joanna, Allegra, Chloe, Djin, Rachel, Chloe, Enni, Penelope, Kaya, Vishnu, Arianna, Sophia, Isabel The Stone Soup Book Club is open to all Stone Soup contributors and subscribers, age 9-13, during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements. We meet every Wednesday for one hour via Zoom to discuss our chosen book. Next week, we will begin discussing our 3rd book, Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper. Hope to see you all there!
Book Club Report: The Inquisitor’s Tale, by Adam Gidwitz
An Update from our fourth Stone Soup Book Club meeting! The Stone Soup book club is open to all Stone Soup contributors and subscribers, ages 9-13, during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements. We meet for one hour every Wednesday to discuss our chosen book via Zoom. On Wednesday, May 6, we began discussing our second book: The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, by Adam Gidwitz. We were so happy to have over 20 participants this week and were able to have some really great discussions! We started off the meeting by splitting up into breakout rooms in groups of three to share our overall thoughts and predictions about the book. Then we met in a whole group discussion to share those ideas out. From there, we split into two groups, one that discussed setting, and one that discussed characters. We switched groups after a ten-minute discussion. The ideas that people raised were thoughtful. We discussed how we felt that we could relate to the characters, even though they are living in 1200’s France, and how diversity and acceptance plays a large role in the book! It was great to hear everyone’s ideas! Next week, we will finish discussing The Inquisitor’s Tale. We are planning on having specific discussions about theme, and other aspects of the book that the book club members said they were really enjoying! On May 20, we will start discussing our third book, which we have yet to choose. Our Current Book: The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, by Adam Gidwitz Our Next Book (beginning May 20th): To Be Determined, but we will announce it next week! Participants: Anya (13), Raeha (11), Chloe (10), Georgia (11), Ever (10), Ever (10), Lena (11), Willa (11), Enni (13), Kia (11), Isabel (10), Joanna (10), Simar (6), Allegra (10), Lucy (13), Djin (10), Chloe (8), Sophia (11), Sachi (13), Iris (8), Penelope (12), Abhi (12), Ariana (9), Jackeline (12) Next meeting: Wednesday, May 13, at 1:00 p.m. PST, via Zoom. The Book Club is always open to new members!
