Father/Son Book Club, Part One

After the success of our mother/daughter book club in the fall, I knew I wanted to do a father/son book club as well. The original plan was to have the title chosen by December so everyone could buy the book over break. Well, January came and no title. February came, and still no title. I was completely stuck. After tons of reflection, I realized while trying to find the perfect "sporty-yet-funny-while-grabbing-everyone-including-the-one-reluctant-reader-who-might-join-the-book-club" title, what I was really doing was selling boys short. Why on earth wouldn't I choose a quality, thought-provoking novel for boys like I automatically did for the girls?

This epiphany led me to choosing what was the most perfect title for our club: Wonder by RJ Palacios. I read it the moment it was released (literally the moment), and the feedback I have received from the boys and dads thus far has been nothing short of amazing. I even had one email from a dad that said he was up until 1:00 a.m. finishing the books with tears streaming down his face.

Here's the plan for the evening:

1. After getting food, the boys and dads will take sticky notes and write down two adjectives that describe them. They will add these to our mural and then write one adjective about each other. I'll add their photos to the mural as the finishing touch.

2. We are going to watch the video Kindness Thought Bubble by Amy Krouse Rosenthal as a starter.

3. We'll divide into two groups and use some questions I made as guiding questions. I'm so curious to see where the conversation goes, though, as this book is so rich with things to talk about.

4. We'll finish up with a few questions we might ask the author if we had that opportunity.

Can't wait!