Ok, so I started two mother-daughter book clubs. We’ve had our first meetings. And I’m happy to report that actual people came — nice people with enthusiasm and neat ideas! Yay! (Yes, I seriously worried that I would be sitting alone in a library meeting room with my 8-year-old, two gallons of Kool-Aid, random Little Debbie products and 40 copies of “Ramona Quimby, Age 8.” Epic fail.)
So, now I’ve dispatched a group of 40 moms and daughters with that Beverly Cleary classic and a separate group of 12 moms and daughters with “The Whole Story of Half A Girl,” a new novel by Veera Hiranandani, and now I’m thinking: “What next?”
To keep from hyperventilating, I’ve decided to immerse myself in what is I’ve quickly learned is called “middle grade fiction,” books written primarily for the age 8-12 crowd and dipping a toe into the YA, or young adult, books written for the 12 and older group.
So, I’ve been reviewing lists. Lots and lots of book lists. You know, “the best books ever” for certain ages or for girls or for families or for pre-teens or for babysitters or for chimpanzees (I’m not kidding, there are that many lists out there. Oy.) And, I’ve noticed that a lot of these “best of” lists are full of really questionable books.
I’ve checked many of them out of the library, and they’ve sat in stacks at the end of my living room couch for weeks as I’ve made my way through title after title. Some are OK. Some are awful. Really, truly awful. Others are heavy — dealing with topics I’m not comfortable bringing before 8- and 10-year-olds I just met.
Some I recognize from my own childhood. Yes, Ramona Quimby is as quirky and funny in 2012 as she was to me in 1982 (and I’d dare to say she’s even funnier than Junie B. Jones, but that’s a blog post for another day). But, is “The Outsiders” as truly amazing as I thought it was in an era where pre-teens are staring dreamily at Justin Bieber and not Matt Dillon in magazines? The only way to find out is to read. (Unfortunately, “The Outsiders” is still in my stack, so I’m not sure if it’s awesomeness has stood the test of time.)
Here’s a brief list of some of the books I’ve explored thus far that are worth mentioning but that we won’t be reading in either of the book clubs (plus a one-word review).
For the 8- to 10-year-old girls
- “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” by Louis Sachar (the author of “Holes”), FUN
- “Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief” by Wendelin Van Draanen, IFFY
- “Bridge to Terabithia,” by Katherine Paterson (yup, one “T”), AWESOME
- “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” by Betty Smith, AWESOME
For the 11- to 13-year-old girls
- “Bunheads,” by Sophie Flack, OK
- “Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, AWESOME
- “Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” by Jamie Ford (an adult book, but great for teens), AWESOME
- “Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom,” by Susin Nielsen-Fernlud, CUTE
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