June 2009 - A.E. Cannon author study

Before you read this post, be warned that no matter how many times I change it, Blogger keeps doing crazy things to the text size and spacing in the post.  Sorry!

We're trying something new this June we will be meeting with local author Ann Cannon to discuss some of her books! I first heard Ann speak years ago when I was in college and she was just toying with the idea to write a book about a boy working in a video shop with wearing an old employees exotic name tag.  I never imagined that years later I would be hosting a book club to discuss that very book (The Loser's guide to Love and Life: A Novel). I'm excited and also a little bit nervous about how to run things (any advice?)

For our selection of Ann's books, I chose:

Charlotte's Rose

The Loser's Guide to Life and Love: A Novel

The Pirate Pete and Pirate Joe easy-to-read series

Ann's other books are really great, but they are a little bit difficult to get your hands on because most are sadly out of print and our local library doesn't have many copies so I couldn't choose them.  Hopefully each book clubber will come with a question or two for Ann.  You can get to know more about A.E. Cannon on her website http://www.aecannon.com/main.html and on her blog http://anncannon.blogspot.com/ or you can read her column in the Deseret News.  Let me know if you have any questions you'd like me to ask her.

May 2009 - Historical Fiction, WWII

Natasha Maw hosted our meeting in May to discuss historical fiction.  This year we focused on WWII and Natasha selected books to cover different parts of WWII.

World War II:  On the Homefront
Jimmy's Stars by Mary Ann Rodman (middle grade)
On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck (middle grade)

 

World War II:  Japanese Internment Camps
Journey to Topaz by Yoshicko Uchidac (middle grade)
Baseball Saved Us by Dom Lee (picture book)
*Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (young adult)

 

World War II:  Nazi Germany
T4 by Ann Clare Le Zotte (free verse novel)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (young adult)
*The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (based on a true story - LDS in Germany)
*Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (non-fiction)

*The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (young adult)

 

*World War II:  Japan
*Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine (non-fiction)

The starred books are options for further reading, but highly recommended.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I remember being enchanted by the Land of Chewandswallow when I was little.  I'm a little sad the movie preview looks so different than the original illustrations by Ron Barrett, but I'm still curious to see the movie this fall.