Mother Daughter Book Club Meeting #9

Summary: E. L. Konigsburg's 1968 Newbery Medal winner, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, is truly a contemporary classic. This beloved tale of two siblings who run away from their suburban home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been made into two films and has millions of fans, including Katie Couric. To lead off our Konigsburg repackaging initiative, we're creating an elegant trade paperback edition with spectacular new cover art and French flaps. -- Atheneum

This month, our Mother Daughter Book Club read FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER by E.L. Konigsburg. This book holds a near and dear place to my heart, and I definitely enjoyed it as an adult just as much as I did when I was a kid. Although, I do think I picked up a few more things this time around. I'm happy to say that my daughter enjoyed this novel as well!

I think that our meeting went pretty well; however, the girls wanted to assert their independence and hold their discussion by themselves. Being the curious/nosy mom, I sat on the steps and tried to listen in. While a few of the girls came up with some excellent discussion questions, I still felt the need to pipe in with a few of my own. For the most part, the girls liked this book and enjoyed the adventure of the story. Many of them also picked up on the deeper themes. I was surprised by how excited they were about the book and how long they talked about it -- over 20 minutes.

Next month, we will be reading THE DOLL PEOPLE by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, and illustrated by Brian Selznick. I was not familiar with this book before today; but after reading the description, I think it sounds terrific.

Annabelle Doll is eight years old -- she has been for over a hundred years. Not a lot has happened to her, cooped up in the dollhouse, with the same doll people, day after day, year after year . . . until the Funcrafts move in! Now Annabelle has a friend. Sure, she’s made entirely of plastic and she‘s living in the scariest room in the house, but she’s an adventurer, and after a hundred years of boredom, that’s just what Annabelle needs. When a secret diary surfaces, these two unlikely friends venture into the exciting and dangerous world outside the dollhouse to unravel an age-old mystery. This masterfully plotted adventure by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin is illustrated throughout with remarkable black-and-white drawings by Brian Selznick. -- Hyperion