At the September 26 meeting of the Fargo-Moorhead-West
Fargo Book Club, six educators gathered in Moorhead to discuss Smile &Sisters by Raina Telgemeier. The following is a summary of their discussion.
As a starting point, our group discussed how
accessible Raina Telgemeier's books are and what wide an audience they have
drawn. It's no mistake though, as smiles and siblings are both universal topics
that Telgemeier deals with artfully. We loved her style as a graphic novelist, as
well as her humor and honesty about friendships and how things change. We
thought Smile to be a perfect book for late elementary all the way to high
school.
We shared how graphic novels are becoming more
commonly accepted and the growing number of graphic novel memoirs including El
Deafo by Cece Bell, The Dumbest Idea Ever by Jimmy Gownley, and March: Book 1
by John Lewis, but how there is still work to be done to educate kids, parents,
and teachers on the benefits of these stories. Graphic novels, like any form of
storytelling, contain messages worth knowing. Along these lines a few members shared their
enthusiasm for Scott McCloud's Understanding
Comics: The Invisible Art which explores theoretical ideas about
comics as an art form and medium of communication.
We also talked at length about the importance of
helping students find access points for success as readers, and also that even
for our advanced readers, not everything they read has to be a challenge if we
want to help students develop into lifelong readers.
Everyone was able to share, and the group as a
whole left with a lot of new book recommendations to consider. We are looking
forward to our next meeting as many people who were not present at our first
gathering noted they would be able to attend.
NB: The next meeting is October 27 to discuss
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm.
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The Grand Forks Book Club met on Sept. 25 for a discussion
of the Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J. K. Rowling) book The Cuckoo's Calling. All
members present enjoyed the book and felt that Rowling was successful in both
writing an engaging crime novel and using a style that seemed appropriate of a "male"
author.
NB: The next meeting is October 22 to discuss Burial Rites
by Hannah Kent.
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