Teen Book Clubs--REPORT (February)

There were 18 of us at February's High School Book Club to discuss Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, a Groundhog Day-like story of a girl who relives the same day seven times, until she gets it right. Several people identified with various characters, even the mean ones, because of their secrets and back stories; some of us had a problem with the protagonist, Sam, though we liked her interactions with her little sister and her heroism at the end; and on balance, nobody hated it but nobody really loved it. Our rating: 6.8. Next month we are reading Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, and the following month it will be Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork.

We had a pretty full house at Middle School Book Club, BV chapter, on Wednesday night—17 gathered to discuss The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett. No one rose to our challenge by either wearing a kilt or presenting their remarks in Scottish brogue. Too bad. Opinions on this one were all over the map—one member thought this book was “too middle school,” and when challenged that “we ARE in middle school!” her response was “but we read HIGH SCHOOL books usually.” (News to us….) Some absolutely loved it, a couple really disliked it, a few found it confusing, but most were in the middle, and we ended up with a rating of 7.75 (skewed high by wee teen librarians, who are big Pratchett fans). Next month we are reading Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars, by Nick James, and the following month it’s You Don’t Know Me, by David Klass, or, if we can't get that, we'll be reading Everlost, by Neil Shusterman.

There were 11 members present at Wednesday night’s Middle School Book Club, Central chapter, to discuss Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson. Aside from the fact that we couldn’t believe any self-respecting parents would simply turn their 17-year-old daughter loose by herself in Europe with no itinerary and no contact via phone or email, to follow the directives of her dead aunt by opening up sequential letters telling her where to go next, we really liked the book! (Can you tell that the adult members of the book club had a bit of an agenda here?!) We rated it 7.5. (Some of the boys thought it was “too girly.”) Next month’s book is Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, and the month after that we will read The Iron King, by Julie Kagawa.