The Mother-Daughter Book Club
by Heather Vogel Frederick
245 pages // published in 2007 // contemporary MG fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The book club
is about to get
a makeover....
Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month.
But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can't help but wonder: What would Jo March do?
Acclaimed author Heather Vogel Frederick will delight daughters of all ages in a novel about the fabulousness of fiction, family, and friendship.
The book club
is about to get
a makeover....
Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month.
But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can't help but wonder: What would Jo March do?
Acclaimed author Heather Vogel Frederick will delight daughters of all ages in a novel about the fabulousness of fiction, family, and friendship.
From the first few pages, I could tell it would be a cute middle grade read. The writing style is charming and quickly drew me in.
The story is about a group of girls (about 12 years old), and their moms, starting a book club together. Their first literature pick? One of my personal favorites... Little Women!
Now, sometimes the girl-talk can get incredibly girly, when they chat about all the drama of middle school, boys, etc... some of this I skimmed through, to be honest (me, reading as an adult). For younger readers, I'm sure they enjoy all those details better than I.
Some negative concepts are covered, such as cliques, bullying, and dysfunctional families. (Conservative readers may not appreciate all of this.)
However, I did find myself drooling (figuratively) over all the literature-themed "Easter eggs" sprinkled throughout the chapters, relating to the great authoress Louisa May Alcott, to Concord, and Orchard House itself. Some of these scenes jumped to life for me, as real as watching a movie version of it (which could be cool, by the way).
Overall? It's cute. Could definitely be used as a companion story to Little Women, when introducing the great classic to young readers (feed the reading flame!).
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I felt much the same about this book. I hope it inspires girls to read LMA. Even though Little Women is an "old-fashioned" story, there's still much about it that is relevant today.
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