Skip to main content

September Mother/Child Book Club Books

On the fourth Tuesday of September the Mother/Daughter Book Club will be discussing the book How They Croaked: The Awful Ends to the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg. On the fourth Wednesday of the month the Mother/Son Book Club will be discussing the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.



How They Croaked: The Awful Ends to the Awfully Famous 
By Georgia Bragg
Illustrated by Kevin O’Malley
Walker & Co., 2011. 184 p.

This is probably one of the funniest biography collections I have ever read. And that is saying something. In this book Bragg starts off with a warning that “if you don’t have the guts for gore, do not read this book.” (And even though there are bits that are a bit gruesome, Bragg writes in such a way that the true history is presented almost comically—which will hopefully make the girls laugh.) Then readers can go on to learn things about how famous people like Cleopatra, King Tut, King Henry VIII, and Albert Einstein died. For example, most people think that Cleopatra died thanks to a snake bite (as written in a Shakespearean play; however, readers learn that Cleopatra really died (probably) due to poison. Other gruesome and gory details of how George Washington died (an infection of the mouth that would be cured today by antibiotics) or Marie Curie (who died thanks to extreme exposure to the radiation she was studying). This book is not for the squeamish reader, but it is an interesting read to give a little more perspective on famous people (and their lives and death) in history—and that is why it is the book for September’s Mother/Daughter Book Club. If you would like to register to be part of this program, click this link.



The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
By C. S. Lewis
HarperTrophy, 1950. 189 p.

 In the second edition of “The Chronicles of Narnia” (at least second according to chronology of the stories, not according to when the books were actually published) the adventures of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy while in Narnia begin. With a backdrop of World War II in England, the four children are shipped off to the English countryside to avoid the London bombings. While exploring the house, Lucy discovers a passageway into another world—a world full of snow and winter and where animals that talk. The children soon discover that all is not as it seems in the world. There is an evil witch that wants to take over everything. With courage and determination the four siblings learn to trust in themselves and their new home-away-from-home. This classic foray into children’s literature will be a fun book to discuss at the September Mother/Son Book Club. If you would like to register to be part of this program click this link.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

Review: Alice with a Why

Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...