Meg Reads: Mother Daughter Book Club: Ghost by Jason Reynolds

My girls and I are loving the Mother Daughter Book Club that we formed over Quarantine. It was Tia and Naomi G’s turn to host and Naomi chose the book, Ghost by Jason Reynolds. 

We give this one 10/10! The author really nails the middle schooler voice. We discussed in book club that all the moms really wished we had done more background on the parents’ stories. But that’s not what the book is about or who it written for. These are YA/middle grader focused and the parents are not the highlight...they’re just parents. So many good discussions happened in our home reading this book, abd I appreciated they way the plot and characters challenged some of my kids’ ideas about trauma, race, teamwork, integrity, family, Albinism, adoption, trust, perseverance, and confidence.  

Great choice, Naomi and Tia! 

Naomi asked great questions at book club, and had thoughtfully made bracelets for everyone. She did a trust activity like in the book, and served themed snacks from the story.  We had some really good laughs and learned about each other.  My boys still have one chapter left and are already asking me to order book 2 in the series. We loved supporting a Black author and supporting books with main characters who are Black. 

Meg Reads: The Magician’s Nephew (Narnia 1)

As a family, I started this as a read aloud book in early Spring. We finally finished it up a couple weeks ago. Reese, Quincy, and Corbin each had gone ahead to finish the book on their own, and the younger 4 children held little interest. It was a bit of a drag to keep Soren interested, and I probably should have just shelved it, but we were SO close to the end (like 20 pages) that I made him stick it out. He didn’t mind the snuggle. 

I thought this would be a series the whole family would enjoy reading out loud, but they begged for something different and I obliged. The Willy kids are just not ready to love CS Lewis, and that’s ok. 

I did love tying in the creation, the fall, the veil, the healing power of the atonement, and agency parallels that are symbolized throughout the book.  Only Reese and Quincy appreciated that, though. Corbin and Soren loved my British accents for the characters, especially Polly and Diggory. But overall, no one loved it like I thought they would.