Just As Long As We're Together

I really loved just as long as we're together. And of course it's a Judy Bloom book so it has to be good right? Just as long as we're together was a book about three girls who are best friends and it's all about them and navigating their friendship, it's ups and it's downs. For our yummy snack that we had at book club it was brownies and stuffing (if you read the book you will understand). I don't know that very many people have read this book and it's been around for a while. The only reason we found it was because one of the moms had read it in elementary school. I am super glad we read Just As Long As We're Together!!

It's a NEW year!

We have now been doing our book club for over a year!

I, for one, am so thankful for this Book Club and feel enriched and surprised by all that has come out of it this last year.  I've learned that our 9 year old daughters are very insightful and quite observant.  They draw our attention to pieces of the book we may have skimmed over.

To kick off our new year, we decided to have a "choice" year.  Each mother daughter team brought about 5 books to the table (literally... to the coffee table!) and voted on which books we wanted for 2017.  How did we vote?  Well, first of all, we took turns reading the book jackets aloud, then the 3 girls met and decided there was one book they wanted to toss out of the voting process-- none of them wanted to read it.  Then, we were each given 6 smooth stones we could place on the books we wanted.  You could put all 6 stones on one book if you wanted to be sure it made the list.  Most of us didn't use more than 1-2 stones on each book, though.


And the 2017 picks are... (in order of most stones to least stones)...


And for documentation purposes... here is everything we read from the time we started til now:

December 2015	Hannah Divided
January 2016	Hairspray
FEBRUARY	The Penderwicks
MARCH	Secret Language of Girls
APRIL	Turtle in Paradise
MAY	Story of Ferdinand
JUNE	My Life with the Chimpanzees
JULY	Tua and the Elephant
AUGUST	BREAK
SEPTEMBER	Esperanza Rising
OCTOBER	Vanished
NOVEMBER	The Night Gardener
DECEMBER	Alanna The First Adventure
January 2017	Just As Long As We’re Together

Are You Up for Adventure?

Well Alanna is! She starts out as a young girl who is afraid of the magical Gift she and her twin brother were born with. But Alanna feels uncomfortable about what is next in life and decides to take matters into her own hands. By then, she realizes that her Gift was meant to help the lives of others and without believing in it, she could accidentally hurt or possibly kill a friend! She meets unusual and royal friends along the way, but all the while, getting closer and closer to her dream. I like Alanna and I think that we could be great friends. This is why I chose Alanna: The First Adventure during my turn in book club. I enjoyed coming up with the questions for my two friends, their moms, and my mom. Find more about Alanna and her adventures by reading Alanna: The First Adventure!

This is me and my friends with the book, Alanna: The First Adventure at our book club!