Meeting on October 10, 2013

This meeting was held in De Poste, with Barbara, Kat and Yvonne.  Bronwyn is await with her family.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupâery

An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a littleprince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone--and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead "checking out" impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he's embarked on a complex analysis of the customers' behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what's going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr.Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.

Meeting on 19 September 2013

With Barabara and Bronwyn at Barbara's home

Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers provides a cure for his boredom.

The Light Princess by George McDonald

It's a well known fact that a new-born princess will often be subject to a curse, especially if her royal parents neglect to invite an important magical relative to the christening. But never has there been a curse as charming (and hilarious) as that which befalls the Light Princess. Deprived of gravity, she can't take anything or anyone seriously. Even worse, she's apt to blow away on the first stiff breeze! Can even a handsome prince bring her down to Earth? One of the most acclaimed literary fairy tales of all time, George MacDonald's profound and witty story floats into bubbling new life in this lovingly crafted full cast reading.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Meeting on 13 August 2013

The Freedom Merchants by Sherryl Jordan 

Set in Ireland in the 1600s, this book is about the white slave trade that went on on the Barbary Coast (which was the Northern Coast of Africa), at the same time as the slave trade of Negros to America. Over 1 million white Christians were captured by corsair pirates, and sold in slavery to Muslim masters in the Mediterranean. The pirates captured slaves from as far north as fishing villages in England and Ireland, and even from Iceland. This story is about 13-year-old Liam, whose life is changed because of these pirate raids

Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume

On the cusp of maturity, young Margaret Simon moves with her family from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. There she falls in with a clique of friends, Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie, who form a secret club to talk about boys and puberty. However, Margaret's newfound friends cannot understand why she doesn't go to church or join the Y. But what they don't know is that Margaret has her own very special relationship with God.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper burns. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel set in the (perhaps near) future when "firemen" burn books forbidden by a totalitarian "brave new world" regime. The hero, according to Mr. Bradbury, is "a book burner who suddenly discovers that books are flesh-and-blood ideas and cry out silently when put to the torch." Today, when libraries and schools in this country and all over the world are still "burning" certain books, Fahrenheit 451 remains a brilliantly readable and suspenseful work of even greater impact and timeliness.