An update from our twenty-fifth Book Club meeting! On Saturday, March 27, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, by Jeanne Birdsall. The Penderwicks, the first book in a series of five, is about four sisters and their father, and all of the adventures they encounter when they rent a summer home in the Berkshires. Our Book Club meeting, which was attended by around 35 participants from multiple countries, started with everyone being sent into small breakout rooms, so they could get to know each other a little bit better. Their conversation starter was “spring”, and what spring looks like where they live! When we all came back together, we debriefed the book (most everyone enjoyed it!) and then split into four breakout rooms—led by myself, Laura, and two of our Book Club facilitators: Lucy and Madeline). In these rooms, we talked about The Penderwicks in more depth, including the characters, setting, plot, and themes. When we shared out about our discussions afterward, we found that many people had picked up on the sort of “reverse fairy-tale” motif carried throughout the book, and we were able to have a fun conversation about this! Next, we talked about inspiration. As writers, what other authors have inspired our work? We used The Penderwicks, which is inspired by Little Women (by Louisa May Alcott) as an example. After we analyzed those novels and their similarities and differences, we talked about our own inspirations, including authors such as Rick Riordan, Markus Zusak, and J.R.R Tolkien. Our final activity was a writing prompt. The Penderwicks, although it is realistic fiction, seems to take place in a magical setting, because it is so idyllic. So, we asked our participants to write about a summer experience they had that felt magical. We shared our answers in breakout rooms, and it was really fun to hear about summer homes, lakes, hiking, and more! At the end of Book Club, we chose our next book, which will be discussed on April 24—the first meeting of our spring Book Club session! To sign up for the spring/summer session of Book Club, visit our Eventbrite page here. Our Next Book (to be discussed on April 24): Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
Jeanne Birdsall
Book Club Report: The Thing About Jellyfish, Ali Benjamin
An update from our twenty-fourth Book Club meeting! On Saturday, February 27, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed The Thing About Jellyfish, by Ali Benjamin. The story is moving; it is about a girl named Suzy, who is coming to terms with the unexpected death of her friend, Franny. We were incredibly lucky to have been joined by author Ali Benjamin for around forty minutes of our meeting! Ms. Benjamin graciously answered all of our questions about The Thing About Jellyfish, and about writing in general. She talked to us about what she felt was the ultimate truth of the book—learning to live with uncertainty—as well as about the research she undertook to learn about jellyfish, and how her own life impacted her ideas and her characters. Additionally, she explained how it felt to have written a book that had been a finalist for the National Book Award, and we learned a bit about the world of film and stage adaptations! We are very thankful to Ms. Benjamin for spending this time with us! If you attended this Book Club meeting, we would appreciate it if you write a brief thank-you note to Ms. Benjamin, if you have not done so already. You can email it to me (Anya) at my Stone Soup email address and I will forward it to her! After Ms. Benjamin’s visit, we only had a little bit of time left. We split into three breakout rooms and discussed some questions that related to the central themes of the book: has there ever been a time where you distracted yourself from the truth? Has there ever been a time where you believed something no one else believed? We had great conversations about instances where book characters did something we couldn’t believe, or where we got a different answer to a question than the rest of our class in school. We also talked generally about the book, and mostly agreed that we enjoyed it! It was very fun to hear what everyone had to say! Finally, we chose our next book, which is listed below! Our Next Book (to be discussed March 27): The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, by Jeanne Birdsall
