We loved Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me so much we decided to read another one of her books...Liar & Spy did not disappoint.
That meeting is long past, and my notes are mostly incomprehensible at this point, so this post will be brief. Amy & Sophie were the connectors, Katrina & Phoebe the psychoanalysts, Ellie & Vanessa the gossips, Angela & Tessa the illuminators, and Layla and I did food. Sadly, our activity pair - Tricia & Olivia - were down with the flu and missed this meeting.
Next up - for the January meeting - our most challenging book to date: The Diary of Ann Frank.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Monday, November 5, 2012
Book 6: A Mango-Shaped Space
At this meeting of MAD for Books we welcomed our new members, Sophie and Amy - thanks so much for joining our little group!
Katrina started us off in our discussion of a A Mango - Shaped Space. We all rated the book on a scale of 1 to 10 and came up with numbers from 6-9. We all liked it, and some said it was their favorite book so far (with One Crazy Summer being the other contender for the number 1 spot).
Katrina and Phoebe shared what they learned about the author, Wendy Mass (or windy mass if not enunciated clearly). Wendy has written 12 books, some non-fiction and some fiction, and was encouraged by Judy Blume when they met and Wendy sent her a sample of her writing. We all agreed that Wendy is someone we'd like to meet given her life-sized poster of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, her interest in time travel, her list of favorite movies, and her desire to have the superpower of being able to turn time back one hour. Wendy believes that's just enough to correct any mistakes that might have been made. Layla remembered that it was in Galaxy Quest - one of Wendy's favorite movies - that being able to turn back the time a few minutes was a key part of the story line.
Olivia and Tricia were the Connectors and although Livi was unable to make most of the meeting (we missed you Olivia!), she did create an awesome video sharing her thoughts. Some of the themes Olivia highlighted included fitting in, friendships, self-esteem, keeping secrets, superstition, and death. Some of the books Olivia recommended as connecting to the ideas were The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Holes, The Tail of Emily WIndsnap, When You Reach Me, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Thirteen Gifts, My Dog Skip, Cat Heaven, Bridge to Terabithia, and Octavia Boone's Big Questions about Life, the Universe, and Everything. Tricia then talked about synesthesia and its connection to art and particular artists such as Kadinsky. Lady Gaga also says she has synesthesia and Mozart and Stevie Wonder are believed to be synesthetes. Tricia shared some paintings of Kadinsky.
Layla and Rebecca were the Illuminators and talked a bit further about a number of the themes raised by the Connectors, Olivia and Tricia. With respect to Mia and her synesthesia, she went from denial to discovery and embracing and celebrating her difference and then wanting to enhance it further by getting acupuncture. Layla also connected that to Mia being able to see Mango's trail of color as he was failing. Related to this idea was how each member of Mia's family was rather odd and different but that they all seemed comfortable with that and with their family as a whole being different. Death and loss was also a big theme of the book from the loss of Jenna's mother and Mia's grandfather, to Roger's dog, and Mango at the end, and the various ways of remembering the lost loved ones and how these losses connected them in different ways. Another key idea Layla and Rebecca talked about was Mia and Jenna's friendship, the challenges their friendship faced during the course of the book, and the symbolism of their friendship bracelets.
Ellie and Vanessa brought a delicous tofu loaf, along with different colored jellybeans and m&ms, blue tortilla chips, lemonade, and homemade mango ice cream - yum! They also shared some fun information about mangos.
Finally, Tessa and Angela were our Game Wardens and first played a few pieces of music written by John Kirk, a musician with synesthesia. We each listened carefully, shared what colors the music made us think of, and then Angela told us the name of the piece - each was a color name such as Cobalt. Next, Angela passed out bookmarks with each person's name and we decorated them in the colors the letters or sound evoked for us and then gave them to the person. Lots of great creativity as always in our group.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 12/18 at 6:00pm and we will be reading another book by Rebecca Stead, Liar and Spy.
Katrina started us off in our discussion of a A Mango - Shaped Space. We all rated the book on a scale of 1 to 10 and came up with numbers from 6-9. We all liked it, and some said it was their favorite book so far (with One Crazy Summer being the other contender for the number 1 spot).
Katrina and Phoebe shared what they learned about the author, Wendy Mass (or windy mass if not enunciated clearly). Wendy has written 12 books, some non-fiction and some fiction, and was encouraged by Judy Blume when they met and Wendy sent her a sample of her writing. We all agreed that Wendy is someone we'd like to meet given her life-sized poster of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, her interest in time travel, her list of favorite movies, and her desire to have the superpower of being able to turn time back one hour. Wendy believes that's just enough to correct any mistakes that might have been made. Layla remembered that it was in Galaxy Quest - one of Wendy's favorite movies - that being able to turn back the time a few minutes was a key part of the story line.
Olivia and Tricia were the Connectors and although Livi was unable to make most of the meeting (we missed you Olivia!), she did create an awesome video sharing her thoughts. Some of the themes Olivia highlighted included fitting in, friendships, self-esteem, keeping secrets, superstition, and death. Some of the books Olivia recommended as connecting to the ideas were The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Holes, The Tail of Emily WIndsnap, When You Reach Me, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Thirteen Gifts, My Dog Skip, Cat Heaven, Bridge to Terabithia, and Octavia Boone's Big Questions about Life, the Universe, and Everything. Tricia then talked about synesthesia and its connection to art and particular artists such as Kadinsky. Lady Gaga also says she has synesthesia and Mozart and Stevie Wonder are believed to be synesthetes. Tricia shared some paintings of Kadinsky.
Layla and Rebecca were the Illuminators and talked a bit further about a number of the themes raised by the Connectors, Olivia and Tricia. With respect to Mia and her synesthesia, she went from denial to discovery and embracing and celebrating her difference and then wanting to enhance it further by getting acupuncture. Layla also connected that to Mia being able to see Mango's trail of color as he was failing. Related to this idea was how each member of Mia's family was rather odd and different but that they all seemed comfortable with that and with their family as a whole being different. Death and loss was also a big theme of the book from the loss of Jenna's mother and Mia's grandfather, to Roger's dog, and Mango at the end, and the various ways of remembering the lost loved ones and how these losses connected them in different ways. Another key idea Layla and Rebecca talked about was Mia and Jenna's friendship, the challenges their friendship faced during the course of the book, and the symbolism of their friendship bracelets.
Ellie and Vanessa brought a delicous tofu loaf, along with different colored jellybeans and m&ms, blue tortilla chips, lemonade, and homemade mango ice cream - yum! They also shared some fun information about mangos.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Book 5: The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Our fifth - 5th! - meeting of MAD focused on The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler. This book got a thumbs up all around and sparked some good discussion and lots of creativity with respect to snacks and crafts. When the question was asked whether we would like to be a mermaid the consensus was we'd like to be a half mermaid - not be automatically turned into a mermaid whenever we were in the water. That might be a bit of a challenge.
Led by Phoebe and Katrina we explored connections to mythical creatures and themes of friendship and loyalty in the book. Ellie and Vanessa, the character shrinks, picked Millie to focus on and talked about how funny and unique she was - we all liked Millie and hoped she was in subsequent Emily Windsnap books (Layla gave everyone a sneak peak, having read on in the series, and said Millie moved to the island with Emily and her family).
Angela & Tessa were our snack masters and fed us with goldfish crackers, seaweed, tea, and iced buns (that did not have a memory drug in them!). We did wonder how Emily's mom ate donuts everyday and stayed thin!
Led by Layla and Rebecca we played a bingo game with questions about the book and Phoebe was the winner of a shell covered mirror crafted by Layla. Next we made clothespin mermaids - they were awesome!
And I just checked in with Olivia and Tricia - apparently they were our "gossips" for the day but never got a chance to share what they'd learned about Liz Kessler. So, note for the future - we'll all make sure everyone gets to share what they've brought to the meeting! Fortunately we did share and talk about some things we'd all learned about Liz so we did find out quite a bit about her and her work.
We also decided to change how the books were picked so both moms and girls have a chance to pick some favorites. One month the mothers will pick 3 titles and then the girls vote on the winner, and the other months the girls will pick 3 books and the moms will vote. This month the mom's got to pick the 3 candidates and the winner, voted on by the girls, was A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.
Led by Phoebe and Katrina we explored connections to mythical creatures and themes of friendship and loyalty in the book. Ellie and Vanessa, the character shrinks, picked Millie to focus on and talked about how funny and unique she was - we all liked Millie and hoped she was in subsequent Emily Windsnap books (Layla gave everyone a sneak peak, having read on in the series, and said Millie moved to the island with Emily and her family).
Angela & Tessa were our snack masters and fed us with goldfish crackers, seaweed, tea, and iced buns (that did not have a memory drug in them!). We did wonder how Emily's mom ate donuts everyday and stayed thin!
Led by Layla and Rebecca we played a bingo game with questions about the book and Phoebe was the winner of a shell covered mirror crafted by Layla. Next we made clothespin mermaids - they were awesome!
And I just checked in with Olivia and Tricia - apparently they were our "gossips" for the day but never got a chance to share what they'd learned about Liz Kessler. So, note for the future - we'll all make sure everyone gets to share what they've brought to the meeting! Fortunately we did share and talk about some things we'd all learned about Liz so we did find out quite a bit about her and her work.
We also decided to change how the books were picked so both moms and girls have a chance to pick some favorites. One month the mothers will pick 3 titles and then the girls vote on the winner, and the other months the girls will pick 3 books and the moms will vote. This month the mom's got to pick the 3 candidates and the winner, voted on by the girls, was A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.
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