May 6, 2004

ON MY BOOKSHELF

‘Number the Stars’
by Lois Lowry

‘No Name’ Mother/Daughter Book Club

On a warm spring evening, Almaden’s “No Name” mother-daughter book club meets in Mary Stone and daughter Alexandra Bowers’ lovely landscaped backyard. There, amidst much laughter from the girls and their mothers, the group explores the book read the previous month.

The mother-daughter book club is now in its third year, consisting of eight mothers paired with their sixth and one seventh grade daughters. The books have changed with the reading levels, but the merriment has been there all along with this friendly group.

The club originally started when one of the mothers, Donna Green, read about a group in Family Fun Magazine. She studied “The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How 10 Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn through Their Love of Reading” by Shireen Dodson. She talked to her daughter Gigi and a couple of friends and the group began.

“Besides reading good books, the book club brings a non-threatening way to talk about values and issues with the girls.” Joan Powers shared at the meeting who is also a member of the No Name Book Club. “It’s a great communication tool between our daughters and us. We have something to really talk about instead of the one word answers you get from the girls sometimes.”

The current book discussed was the Newbery Award winner “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry. It is the story of a young girl’s life in occupied Denmark during World War II.

Powers and Alexandra chose the book by researching at Hicklebee’s Childrens Books in Willow Glen and on the Internet for a great book. For the meeting they wrote out questions for each girl to ask about the young adult novel to stimulate conversation.

“How are you like the girls in the book?” Carina Ley reads from her slip of paper and starts the round robin discussion among the group.

“We’re like Annemarie. We help our friends. We care about them,” chime in the girls.
And the discussion begins. What follows are insights on the story and the girls, with their mothers sharing and learning along with them.

The group works this way: Once a month during the school year, each mother hosts the book club. She and her daughter choose and distribute the book at the previous meeting for the group to read during the coming month.

They will host the event and lead the discussion, deciding whether questions will be asked or a free-for-all discussion will prevail. In the past, the group created crafts that related to the book. After about an hour (or when there is more laughter than dialogue among the daughters), the group breaks for dessert.

Powers served cupcakes with pink frosting and lemonade to the girls’ delight. The mothers have coffee. There is more conversation, this time about school, work or other activities. After the snack, the girls play a word game, trying to guess which character each represents from the book. Then the mothers take the opportunity to catch up with each others lives. After three years together, close friendships have evolved from the group.

Ann Brown related that the club also stimulates friendships the girls would not have had otherwise. The girls attend Bret Harte Middle, Castillero Middle and Graystone Elementary schools.

“And through the years the girls have become much better at expressing themselves,” said Brown. “The club does so much more than fostering books and reading.”

Martina and Ashleigh Wu are the newest members to the group and have brought the next book to be read. “The Amah,” by Laurence Yep, revolves around a young girl’s life in San Francisco’s Chinatown. An amah is a nanny that becomes the mother’s vocation. It is sure to create stimulating conversation and new insights among the group.

“I like this club so much,” shared Martina Wu. “I hadn’t read much since school but now I am. I enjoy the books as much as my daughter.”

Besides the enjoyable experience of reading a collection of diverse books, the club offers other benefits. The group makes reading a social event rather than a solitary activity which is appealing to even the most reluctant reader. It offers mothers a special occasion with their daughters. And everyone has a wonderful time.

—By Jeanne C. Lewis