The Mother-Daughter Book Club

Bookwormgirly:) - About: 5...excuse me, 4, but 'hint hint' with the 5 thing...4 COMPLETELY different girls from Concord,MA in the sixth grade's mothers set up a Mother-Daughter Book Club. Before I go on, let me introduce the characters: Emma Hawthorne, aspiring poet who likes Zach Norton and is best friends with Jess Delaney. Jess Delaney, best friend of Emma Hawthorne, crush on Emma's older brother, Darcy Hawthorne. Lives on Half Moon Farm with two younger brothers, Dylan and Ryan. Her mother is on a soap opera called HeartBeats in New York and Jess REALLY misses her. Megan Wong, only child. Likes Zach Norton. Used to be Emma's best friend. Best friends are Becca, Ashley, and ?????? (Oops, i forget the last one :p) Part of the 'Fab Four' with them. Aspiring fashion designer. Cassidy Sloane, one older sister, Courtney. Mom is retired world-known model Clementine. Super tomboy. Plays hockey, and sneaks into the boy's team tryouts (and gets on the team) since Walden Middle School doesn't have a girls hockey team. Moved to Concord recently from California, a year since her dad passed away. Anyway....the girls start off by reading Little Women, a classic story by Louisa May Alcott. SPOILER: The girls become friends by the end =)

April 2, 2007
Allusions to Little Women
, sprinkled throughout this contemporary novel, may well pique the interest of Louisa May Alcott buffs. Frederick (the Patience Goodspeed books; the Spy Mice series) alternates the perspectives of Emma, Megan, Cassidy and Jess, members of a mother-daughter book club who are reading Little Women
while adjusting to their first year of middle school. Emma, an aspiring writer, has grown apart from her former best friend, Megan, who gained entry into the popular crowd after her father's invention made the family rich. Despite her heightened status, Megan isn't altogether happy, since her mother scorns her dream of becoming a fashion designer. Meanwhile, tomboy Cassidy mourns the loss of her father, who was killed in an accident, and Jess misses her mother, who has gone to New York to pursue an acting career. All of the girls are less enthusiastic about the book club than their parents are, but as might be expected, their attitudes change as they become absorbed in Little Women
and its author, who grew up in their hometown of Concord, Mass. The girls' increasing sensitivity to each other's problems is convincing, but the way in which each character finds happiness (during a whirlwind trip to New York City) is more dependent on lucky circumstance than personal achievement. Still, this club's success in uniting a group of disparate sixth-graders may well inspire readers to start one of their own. Ages 9-12.