Cindy’s Comments (group member since Oct 21, 2010)

Cindy’s comments from the Q&A with Cindy Hudson group.

There are so many great books for mother-daughter book clubs. I'll post a few times with lists of some of my favorites. Here's the first one.

Ten Great Mother-Daughter Book Club Books Released in 2010

The Healing Spell—Kimberly Griffiths Little
Will Grayson, Will Grayson—John Green and David Levithan
This is Me from Now On—Barbara Dee
Tortilla Sun—Jennifer Cervantes
The Red Umbrella—Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Betti on the Highwire—Lisa Railsback
The Julian Game—Adele Griffin
The Cardturner—Louis Sachar
Doodlebug—Karen Romano Young
Blue Plate Special—Michelle D. Kwasney

People often ask me what I look for in a mother-daughter book club book. They're surprised to find out that liking a book isn't high on the list (although it is a nice bonus).

Everyone has different tastes in what they like to read, and it's pretty rare that a group of people will all like the same book. So what are some of the criteria I use to recommend a book for book clubs?

1. Well written. A book with nicely developed characters and strong plot line can carry a reader's interest even when they don't like the details of the story.

2. Issues to discuss. Friendship, the relationship between a main character and one or more of her parents, kids taking risks, moral and ethical issues all have the potential to provide great discussions in a group.

3. Yes issues...but no preaching. It's easy for kids to know that they're being led to believe something is good or bad for them. If the characters speak for themselves without preaching to readers, kids can come to their own conclusions about consequences of behavior.

4. Funny. Humor is a plus, as girls read a lot of very serious, very dark books in school. Sometimes it's fun to lighten up.

5. Layers. This is particularly an issue in middle-grade novels, where adults will get things in the book that kids don't see yet.

I would like to begin this topic on starting mother-daughter book clubs with a few reasons why you might want to get one going.

In my own experience, and while talking with other moms to research my book, I found many different personal reasons for getting a reading group going, but many of them fell into a few broad categories:

Book clubs allow moms a way to stay closer to her daughter as she grows.

They help moms and daughters connect socially with people in their community.

They promote literacy in general.

These are all big issues, but today I'll focus on literacy since it's National Family Literacy Day.

In a survey a few years back Scholastic found that kids who say they read for fun also consider themselves to be successful in school. Yet reading for fun begins to drop off significantly after age 9! There are many reasons, including increased homework and more scheduled activities, but I believe mother-daughter book clubs can help counteract the trend.

Meeting over dinner or snacks with friends once a month or so to talk about a book is fun! Over the months and years a group is together they can also read a significant amount of important literature.

Just the other day my youngest daughter and I were in Powell's bookstore scanning the recommendations in the young adult section. We were amazed to discover we had already read a lot of the titles either in book club or as a result of someone in book club recommending it to us. My daughter really felt a sense of accomplishment about it. So did I.

Thanks for joining me for this conversation on mother-daughter book clubs, reading and literacy. I'll start a couple of topics, but anyone here can feel free to add a topic if there's something else on your mind. I look forward to answering any of your questions.

Hi -

All during November I'll be available here to answer your questions about mother-daughter book clubs. I'll be talking about how to get started, how to keep things moving along once you get going and how to solve problems that come up.

Please invite anyone you know who may be interested to join the group.