"Toads, Beetles, Bats . . . "

The kids "knocked it out of the park" with our trivia baseball at our first combined Great Reads for Girls and Book Bash for Boys.

We played Fruit Basket Upset--or Shakespearean Curses Upset.

The kids were put in teams of toads, beetles, bats, pied ninies and scurvy patches. When the person in the middle called their team name they had to find another place to sit. The one left without a chair was "it" and called out the next curse.

We made our own baseball cards.

And we had strawberries and cream puffs for dessert. Yum!

We had a great time.

"On deck" for next month--Wednesday, October 12 at 7 p.m.--is

Book Bash for Boys.

We're reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Hope to see you there!

Prejudice is the Child of Ignorance

Once a year we invite the boys to join us at Great Reads for Girls. Things are certainly more lively when they are around.

During our discussion of The Jacket, we talked a lot about prejudice. Phil, the main character in the book, learns a lot about himself and his own views when he assumes an African-American boy has stolen his brother's coat.

Sometimes there is a difference between what we think we believe and what we really believe. There's a test that is designed to help us understand that. It's available {here}.

We played a trivia  game--the Jazz against the Flash.

The Flash won.

We had ice cream sandwiches--

and Oreos and milk.

We made some catch-the-ball-in the-cup toys.

And we talked some more.

Mystery Solved at Great Reads

There are two competing restaurants in Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, so we recreated them both:

Shin Hoo's Restaurant

 Menu:

Almond Cookies

Chocolate-covered Chinese cookies

Theodorakis Coffee Shop

Menu:

Mini cupcakes

Candy

Hot Chocolate

In order to keep all the murder suspects straight, we had all the moms and their daughters draw a picture of each of the sixteen Westing heirs.

As you can see, they did a terrific job.

Taylor led the discussion on the book.

Since there were a lot of fireworks in the book, we made some of our own:

How To Be a Princess

• Learn to walk with a boot on your head
• Put on your favorite dress
• Read books after everyone else has gone to bed
• Memorize all the rules
• Break the rules
• Save your friends from uncertain danger
• And, most importantly, just be a girl

                           ---Shannon Hale

For our Great Reads for Girls book group we had the girls practice their poise by seeing how far they could walk with a book on their heads.

They were given play money when they arrived and then earned more money by demonstrating their princessly poise.

There was an on-time drawing with prizes--princessy things, of course.

Taylor told us some interesting things about Shannon Hale. We learned that she has a pet--

a plastic pig.

Shannon Hale is quirky like that.

There was a trivia quiz and the girls earned more money for answering the questions, which they did brilliantly.

Here is one of the more difficult questions:

 Finish this line: Clay in my ears and ________?

Answer: (Stone in my stare.)

These girls were impressive.

Then we discussed the book, Princess Academy.


We separated in groups and did a story shout, where each person in the group took turns telling a story, an activity that the people of Mount Eskel did in the book.

The main character, Miri, grew up on a mountain, in a quarry that mined linder rock, which plays a big role in the story.

So the girls and their moms decorated their own rocks.

Here are the results:

In order to get refreshments--brownie bites and candy--the girls had to practice their bartering skills.

An offer made, considered, refused.

Another bid, another refusal.

Deal!

Princesses in the making!