May Mother Daughter Book Club’s Big Surprise!

For May – we read, Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine.  I read this book in March and adored it (5 stars!!!).  You can read my review here.

For our last book club meeting of the year – we wanted to do something special for the girls, so prior to our meeting I emailed Ms. Levine to ask if she would be willing to “skype” into our meeting and be a part of our discussion – and guess what – she agreed!

Last night, for about 30 minutes, the girls were able to visit, discuss, ask questions and just be silly with Ms. Levine.  Ms. Levine was a dream – she delighted the girls with stories about the genesis of the book, about her mother, her visits to Little Rock – and ultimately, what kind of “drink” she would be (a theme she uses throughout the book – she answered, “something fizzy that would eventually go flat!”  And the ultimate compliment was that she interrupted her own children’s bedtime routine to talk to us!  That is a huge sacrifice!  Oh -- and both moms and daughters LOVED the book too!!!  One said, "this was the all time favorite of all the books we've read." High praise.

Our book club now ventures into uncharted waters:  all of our girls are off to middle school next year – some of them will be separated for the first time since Pre-K.  We are determined to keep this going, but it was with a sense of bittersweet that as I looked at this group, that there is a possibility that that was our last meeting.  With schedules, homework, an after school activities – it’s going to be that much more difficult to keep our “band of daughters” together.  But we are committed to the task. 

Wish us luck.

Over the summer, we normally don’t meet, but have committed to read The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.  Mr. Stewart is a resident of Little Rock – we are already working angles to see if he will meet with our group in person!!  Got any connections?!