Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs

by Cindy Hudson

Mothers and daughters share a special bond. . . why not further this bond through reading together? Book clubs have been growing in popularity over the past ten years, started by a variety of people with various interests and goals. Mother-daughter book clubs offer a great way for families to grow and share-with each other and with other mother-daughter pairs.  In Book by Book Cindy Hudson offers all the how-to tips mothers need to start their own successful book clubs. Hudson offers her own firsthand experience as the founder of two long-running successful mother-daughter book clubs. Hudson offers suggestions on books topics, club guidelines, and how to keep the club going as daughters grow older. How big should the club be? Whom should we invite? How often should we meet? How do we make sure we actually read the books? Hudson has all the answers.  With recommended book lists (divided by four age groups), online resources, and suggested recipes for book-club treats, Book by Book is a great resource for helping moms and daughters form new memories and traditions. 

Genres: Parenting

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Cindy Hudson is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, October 2009). She is the founder of two successful, long-running book clubs, one with each of her daughters. She publishes http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.com as a resource for readers and book club members. It contains age-appropriate reading lists, book reviews, author interviews and more. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Bridget R. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it. This would be useful for any bookclub, not just a mother daugter one. Liked that she mentioned Web 2.0 stuff (like GoodReads) and talked lots about activities to extend the books and keep members intersted.

I believe the subtitle says it all about this book. 21 chapters are divided into 3 subsections

Part 1- A New Chapter: How To Get Your Club Started
Part 2- Turning the Page: Keeping Your Club Thriving
Part 3- Getting Over the Bumps: How to Handle Typical Club Challenges

The book also includes 3 useful appendices: where to find books, books for your book club (an annotated list divided into age groups), and recipes.

Cindy Hudson has the experience and thus the expertise to write this book. She belongs to two mother-daughter book clubs--one with each daughter. This book is one of the best I've read about starting and maintaining a book club. Though it specifically deals with mother-daughter book clubs, I think any book club would find Book by Book a valuable resource. I liked that Cindy mentioned new technologies (i.e. Web 2.0--GoodReads, Facebook, Skype) and spoke fondly of libraries and librarians in the course of her book.

I was lucky enough to win this copy of Book by Book in a blog giveaway. My desire to read it comes from my profession. As a librarian, I may be called on to support mother-daughter book clubs. Reading this book strengthened my ability to do so. I'll be passing Book by Book along to a cousin. She has a ten-year-old daughter who is an avid reader. Wouldn't it be great to have a mother-daughter book club in the family?

[Summertime Readaholic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful how to for starting and maintaining a book club. Bonus it has several book lists to get you started that are grouped by age ranges. This book covers everything you need, step by step, from idea to implementation. It even helps with troubleshooting, mediating and de-escalating during common conflict scenarios. Totally worth the read.

[Dwayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well thought-out, practical, and lively how-to guide. Pros? Lots of ideas are introduced. The author tackles a variety of problems that may arise, and she acknowledges and encourages evolution of the group as the girls age and change. Best of all, the author pragmatically reminds the reader that every group is unique... use solutions and choices that work for your group.

Cons? Quotes that introduce each chapter all seem to be from mothers. Where are the daughters' voices? Plus, I could've done without the chapter on recipes - that's just me. I would've rather had a section on communicating with all the group members. How to coordinate between meetings and keep everyone up-to-date on logistics... email? telephone? social media - using Facebook, GoodReads, or a blog? But all in all, I can't wait to join a book club with my daughter. (It will be a few years, though!) This book glows with enthusiasm.

[Lenore Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, talking about College Girl and shared interest, I wanted to tell you about "Book by Book". This is a guide on creating mother-daughter book clubs. We are both avid readers. I love sharing stories with her. I do wish I had this guide when she was younger. It helps to have tools on how to create a book club. A great part of this is the listing of books that appeal to the mother-daughter audience. It also helps to share what activities you can plan too. I wonder if I should start up a neighborhood book club for moms and daughters? It is an idea.

[Stephanie]

I'm so going to do this this fall with Olivia. Whoo hoo! Now, who to invite...

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas but most are common sense