Starting Parent-Child Book Clubs (Guest Post)

Looking for a tip to help your family stay connected in this fast-paced world?  Start a parent-child book club to simply and economically make connections with your children through a community of books.  Busy moms will appreciate how this activity will easily blend into their already full lives.

To get started, find a few like-minded friends and their children who are interested in joining you on this adventure.  Agree on the goals and ground rules for your family book club.  Choose a first book that will be challenging and engaging to read.  The host adult for each meeting can draft open-ended discussion questions that will ideally stimulate a rewarding and meaningful book discussion.  You can share your values and thoughts about situations that arise in the books, and your children can share their feelings and ideas through discussing situations that the book’s characters faced.  Also, the host can create enrichment activities such as book-inspired art or science projects, snacks, field trips, movement or sports activities, and games or puzzles.  These types of experiences truly enhance the book discussion and provide a hands-on experience that everyone will remember.  Enjoy reading the books that your group has selected, and bonding with your family through discussions and related activities.  It works for me!

Melissa Stoller

Co-author, The Parent-Child Book Club: Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading (Melissa Stoller & Marcy Winkler, HorizonLine Publishing, 2009, www.parentchildbookclub.com).  This is a comprehensive resource book with step-by-step instructions for organizing and conducting your family book club.  The 20 Book Club Model Guides provide everything families need to get started!

Is Percy Jackson the Next Harry Potter?

I’ve been seeing so many reports lately about Percy Jackson being the next Harry Potter. I’ve now completed both series and am ready to answer that question…not really.

Aside from the obvious similarities between the two books (young boy find out that he has special powers, enters a magical world, finds out he is part of a big prophecy, makes friends, battles monsters, learns more about “family” and “friendship” as a result), what else to Percy Jackson and Harry Potter have in common? They are both book series, and they were both made into movies. So we’ve established some similarities that they also have with many, many other book characters and series. Beyond that?

When I think of Harry Potter and why it was so big, I think of two things. The first is that it known as one of the best selling book series of all time and is a favorite of both young and old. It’s a phenomenon that will not be repeated soon. Percy Jackson will not be THAT Harry Potter.

But the other thing that Harry Potter was Percy Jackson COULD be. They are both a reason to get kids reading again. They are both a series that appeals to a demographic that can sometimes be hard to motivate to read (10-15 year olds, especially boys). It’s not only one book but an entire series that can get somehow hooked and into reading for the first time or back into reading if they have not been interested in awhile. It’s not fluffy like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but actually has some real social value (as least in my opinion) when you take to heart the lessons about life, love, and perseverance.

For me, Percy Jackson is not the next Harry Potter because there will never be another Harry Potter. It’s a one of a kind experience that crosses generations and media. But does that mean I wouldn’t suggest Percy Jackson to my friends and their kids? Not at all. Just take it for what it is–another fantasy series about teens growing up and learning life lessons while fighting monsters.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Shirts

One of the hottest book series for pre-teens and teens this year is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Not only is the book series on fire, but a Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie is set to be released soon. The series is a mixture of fantasy and adventure, based on Greek Mythology. Some of my adult friends are reading the series and loving it as well. If you haven’t added it to your family book list yet, you should definitely check it out.

If you already have Percy Jackson and the Olympian fans in your house, you might want to consider these Percy shirts now available at Hot Topic:

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Poster T-Shirt

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Hero T-Shirt

Click here to find more Percy Jackson and the Olympians merchandise.

Borders Summer Reading Program

Looking for a way to motivate your kids to read this summer or reward them for a job well done? Borders has started up its Summer Reading Program again this summer.

You simply need to visit the Summer Reading Program page on the Borders website and print out the worksheet (one for each kid). Once they read 8 books, they take the completed worksheet to any Borders or Waldenbooks store between May 26 and August 31 to save 50% or more on selected items.

The program is only for kids under the age of 12. We won’t be doing it this summer because my daughter is reading the last of the Harry Potter books and will be lucky to get through 2 or 3 of them this summer. But I can’t complain about that.

More Harry Potter Books?

Having just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I now find myself in that same position as all others who have been taken in by “The Boy Who Lived.” Will there be more Harry Potter books? The bad news is that there are no new Harry Potter books on the horizon. The closest that we have to hope is that there will be an Encyclopedia of sorts written sometime in the next 10 years that gives more information about all of the characters.

In the meantime, if you have not checked out the three “supplements” to the Harry Potter series, you need to hit Amazon. The first two are made to look like textbooks from Hogwarts. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a collection of creatures both mentioned in the series and new. The second, “Quidditch Through the Ages,” is a history of Quidditch. Both are written by J.K. Rowling under pseudonyms. You can get the boxed set for about $10 under the title Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them/Quidditch Through the Ages (Hardcover).

More publicized was the release last year of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book which figured prominently in  the final Harry Potter installment. The standard edition of the book not only contains five fairy tales but also commentary by Albus Dumbledore. The notes contain backstory about Potter-ish staples such as magic wands, Muggles, and the Dark Arts.

All three of the books above were written for charity. While I am sure that they will not give Harry Potter fans the same feeling as the 7 series books, they are sure to entertain and provide more background information for those of us who can’t get enough.