mother-daughter book club | Butterscotch Sundae

Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. Twelve-year-old Felicity, a “word collector,” wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first she’ll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that’s been cast over the town — and her mother’s broken heart.

Last night our mother-daughter book club met for lasagna, salad, brownies and a discussion of Natalie Lloyd’s “A Snicker of Magic.” It only took three book talks for the other members to recognize that I am, to put it kindly, a curmudgeon. Several of them predicted that the author’s prevalent use of “What the hayseed” would annoy me. They were right. I did find that and a few other frequently occurring cutesy phrases and motifs pretty grating.

I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t in love with Midnight Gulch.

“A Snicker of Magic” was not met with universal acclaim by the members of the Witty Kitty Book Club. The girls and the moms agreed that it took awhile for the story to get started. We all had to push ourselves through the first several chapters before it finally grabbed our attention.

Even thought most of them felt lukewarm about the book, the girls did a great job answering the discussion questions. Here are a few of the topics we discussed:

Felicity says that her mother’s storytelling voice is “like something between a summer breeze and a lullaby” (p. 2). How can someone’s voice help him or her tell a good story?
The girls agreed that a storyteller’s voice can help set the mood of a story and draw the listener in. One girl added that it could “give the story character.”

The people of Midnight Gulch possess different types of magic. What kind of magic would you want to have? Why?
Summer: “To be able to fly.”
Scarlet: “To be able to turn any person into anything. I want to be a cat. It would be interesting to see things from another perspective.”
Story: “To talk to animals and to fly.”
Grace: “To be able to talk to plants or to fly.”
Liliana: “The power to turn invisible so I could sneak poundcake.”
Koda: “Magic that can heal nature. I would fix global warming.” She also said she’d like to be able to turn into an animal, specifically so she could find out what it would be like to be a cat, then a bear and then a seahorse.

Words are very important to Felicity. What are your three favorite words?
Summer: “Awesome, super, extraordinary.”
Scarlet: “Hope, family, courage.”
Story: “Nature, animals, peace.”
Grace: “Joy, friends, nature.”
Liliana: “Money.” (Our Poppy was trying her hand at being the class clown at this month’s meeting, to her mother’s dismay and chagrin.)
Koda: “Pickle, meow, family.”

Felicity loves to collects words about people. Choose three words that best describe you.
Summer: “Athletic.”
Scarlet: “Artistic, energetic, daring.”
Story: “Nature, peace, animal-lover.”
Grace: “Creative, fun, nature.”
Liliana: “Fun, crazy, huggable.”
Koda: “Creative, unique, smart.”

The highest rating “A Snicker of Magic” received was an 8.5, and the lowest was a 4. On average, the Witty Kitty Book Club gave it 7 kitty paws.

Once again, this group of girls impressed me with their attention to detail and the thought they put into their answers. Even though they didn’t all enjoy it, they all finished the book and came to the meeting ready to talk. I’m already looking forward to next month’s meeting!

Previous mother-daughter book club selections

“Hope Was Here”

“Serafina and the Black Cloak”

January’s mother-daughter book club selection was “Hope Was Here” by Joan Bauer. We thought it would be fun for the girls if we went out again, so we met at a local pizza place for our discussion. The calzone Poppy and I shared was delicious, but the restaurant was a little too noisy for a good discussion. We’ll probably be meeting at home from here on out.

Here’s a synopsis of the “Hope Was Here”:

When Hope and her aunt move to small-town Wisconsin to take over the local diner, Hope’s not sure what to expect. But what they find is that the owner, G.T., isn’t quite ready to give up yet — in fact, he’s decided to run for mayor against a corrupt candidate. And as Hope starts to make her place at the diner, she also finds herself caught up in G.T.’s campaign — particularly his visions for the future. After all, as G.T. points out, everyone can use a little hope to help get through the tough times … even Hope herself.

The main character, Hope, doesn’t like the name her mother gave her at birth, so she renamed herself. One of the things we asked the girls to ruminate on as they read the story was what name they would rename themselves if given the opportunity. I will henceforth use the names they chose (for the most part) in my book club posts. They chose:

Summer, “because it’s lively.”

Scarlet, “I just really like it.”

Story.

Grace.

Wolfelia, “because it has ‘wolf’ in it and wolves represent family and loyalty.”

Liliana, whom you know as Poppy.

And one girl said she wouldn’t change her name. She likes the name she has because it isn’t a common name for a girl. For book club purposes, we’ll call her Syd.

The girls agreed that Hope didn’t miss out on much by being raised by her aunt rather than by her mother, because her mother “could be a little wild” and “didn’t have any motherly feelings.” They identified the book’s main themes as: love, home, family and food.

The moms thought the political aspect of the plot was too detailed and bogged the story down, and one mom found the main characters’ Save The World mentality a bit tiresome. The girls’ opinions were mixed. The lowest rating was Grace’s five kitty paws out of 10, and the highest rating was Wolfelia’s nine-paw rating. On average, the kids gave “Hope Was Here” seven paws.