An update from our twenty-second Book Club meeting! On Saturday, December 5, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed the novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon, written by Kelly Barnhill. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is about a girl named Luna, and the story follows her as she grows up, and learns about both her magic and her past. Our meeting consisted of forty kids from across the US and in the UK, and we were incredibly lucky to be joined by the author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill!! Ms. Barnhill visited with our Book Club for nearly forty minutes. We asked her a variety of questions, and she told us about her writing process and where her ideas come from, as well sharing some writing tips. We learned about how Ms. Barnhill wanted to set The Girl Who Drank the Moon in a society where the truth was veiled in lies, and we received excellent advice on how to follow through on our story ideas, however hard they may seem to write down. Thank you very much, Ms. Barnhill! If you attended this session of Book Club, please write a thank you note to Ms. Barnhill and email it to me at anya@stonesoup.com, if you have not done so already. I will forward it to her! After Ms. Barnhill’s visit, we only had a little bit of time left, but we were able to have some fascinating discussions about setting and characters in The Girl Who Drank the Moon. We debated the complexities of both the good and evil characters, and thought about the symbolism and significance of different places in the book. It was really interesting to hear what everyone had to say! Finally, we chose our next book, which is listed below. Important Note: Book Club is taking a break for the next few weeks. Right now, we are not sure exactly when in January it will return, but we will tell you as soon as we know! Our Next Book (date TBD): The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani
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Book Club Report: Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger
An update from our twenty-first Book Club meeting! Our most recent Book Club meeting was on October 31–Halloween! We had several participants who dressed up, representing characters from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, and our current read–Keeper of the Lost Cities, which is about a girl, Sophie, who discovers she is an elf with magical powers! Our discussion, which included 28 kids from across the US, and in the UK, began with a brief talk about whether we liked the book or not. We generally agreed that it was an entertaining story, though the characters were somewhat flat, and the elf-world was sometimes a little too perfect. We then split into breakout rooms to talk more in-depth about the characters and setting, coming to some very good conclusions regarding whether we felt Sophie was a compelling main character, and why or why not; and a deeper look into the very glossy, shiny elf world, which may not be as great as it seems. It was really fun to have these conversations, and hear everyone’s thoughts! Next, we were given a thinking/writing prompt: if you were an elf and had magical powers, which magical power would you want, and why? We pondered this for a few minutes, and then shared our answers. People responded that they would like to be Telepaths (like Sophie), Inflictors, Polyglots, Hydrokinetics, and many more! We also debated whether we would even want to have powers, and which powers we would not like to have. Overall, it was a fascinating conversation. We finished up our book club by choosing our next book, which is listed below. We hope you see you all on December 5 to discuss it! Our Next Book (to be discussed on December 5): The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill The Stone Soup Book Club is open to all kids ages 9-13. Our next meeting is on the first Saturday of December at 9am PST, via Zoom. Registration is required. It is $10 per class–and half off for all subscribers. You can sign up for Book Club via Eventbrite here.
Book Club Report: The War I Finally Won, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
An update from our twentieth Book Club meeting! Last Saturday, September 26, was the Stone Soup Book Club’s first Book Club meeting at its new meeting time: 9am PST on Saturdays. The Book Club ran for around an half-and-a-half and was attended by thirty participants from across the US, as well as in the UK. The book we discussed was The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, which is the sequel to our previous read, The War that Saved My Life. In The War I Finally Won, Ada and Jamie continue living under the care of kindly Susan in rural England during World War II. Our first activity was splitting into “ARTT rooms” which are social breakout rooms of three or four people. In these breakout rooms, people introduced themselves and were able to share out and talk about their favorite books. The ARTT rooms are a great way to get to know people! Next, we split into two groups, each of which discussed the similarities and differences between The War I Finally Won and The War that Saved My Life. It was really cool to hear what people thought of the two books, and which one they liked better! We then went into discussion groups to talk about the characters and settings in The War I Finally Won. It was great to get everyone’s perspectives on these topics (as well as to hear who their favorite characters were!), and to explore how all of the people and places in the book are connected. We also talked about themes in The War I Finally Won; we discussed what elements of the book impacted the themes, such as places, actions, and people. Some of the themes we came up with are these: bravery, trust, friendship, acceptance, and finding a home. Finally, before we chose our next Book Club book, we read an email interview that author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley did- just for us! When we discussed The War that Saved My Life, we sent her ten questions about the book. Then, we were able to send her three more about The War I Finally Won. We read out the answers to all of these questions in our meeting. It was extraordinarily cool to hear Ms. Bradley’s thought process on different parts of the book, as well as her advice about writing; and of course, we thank her immensely for answering our questions about the book! Please, if you attended this Book Club meeting, we would love it if you would write a thank-you note to Ms. Bradley. You can send them to me at anya@stonesoup.com and I will forward them along to Ms. Bradley. Lastly, we chose our new book. There were ten options, and the one we chose is: Keeper of the Lost Cities (book 1) by Shannon Messenger. We will be discussing this book at our next meeting on 10/31. And, since that meeting will be on Halloween, we are inviting all of our Book Club participants to dress up as their favorite book character for Book Club (and bring candy, if they wish)! Our Next Book (to be discussed on 10/31): Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger Special Halloween Book Club Activity! Since our next meeting is on Halloween, we are inviting all of our Book Club participants to dress up as their favorite book character for Book Club, and bring candy, if they wish! The Stone Soup Book Club is open to all kids ages 9-13. We will meet on the last Saturday of October and the first Saturday of December at 9am PST via Zoom. Registration is required. It is $10 per class–and half off for all subscribers. You can sign up for Book Club here.
