We are so excited to debut Family Dinner Book Club! This is the first in a 12 part series brought to you by Jodie at Growing Book by Book, Jill at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom and Sarah at Daisy at Home. Each month we will be sharing a book with you to read with your family, dinner menu ideas and arts and crafts to create for your special dinner.
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Our pick to launch the new year and the Family Dinner Book Club series is…. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. First, we’ll share a little about the book and then provide all the details needed for your family to participate in Family Dinner Book Club.
Family Dinner Book Club Selection: Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Milne wrote the chapter story of Winnie-the-Pooh (Puffin Modern Classics)
in 1926, for his young son Christopher Robin, whose toy animals were the basis for the characters and whose name was used for the young boy who appears in the tales. The main character, Winnie-the-Pooh (sometimes called simply Pooh or Edward Bear), is a good-natured, honey-loving bear who lives in the Forest surrounding the Hundred Acre Wood. His companions are Eeyore, a gloomy gray donkey; Tigger, a frisky tiger; Piglet, a timid pig; Owl, a pontificating bird; the meddlesome Rabbit; and Kanga, an energetic kangaroo whose inquisitive baby, Roo, lives in her pouch.
Don’t let the Disney adapted version of Winnie-the-Pooh make you think that this story is just for the very young. The story really is a delight for just about all ages. Winnie-the-Pooh contains 10 stories/chapters which makes perfect reading for one a night routine. Milne does a beautiful job of creating characters that all sound unique in this read-aloud. No wonder this classic has been around for almost 88 years!
How Family Dinner Book Club Works
1. Dust your copy of Winnie-the-Pooh off from when you were child, borrow it from the library or purchase a new copy. Read the book as a family throughout the month of January.
2. Then, on January 15th, check back here for all your Family Dinner Book Club preparation needs. Links will be provided for your dinner conversation table topics from Growing Book by Book, arts and crafts table decorations from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom and your book related menu from Daisy at Home.
3. Decide which night towards the end of January works best for your family to have Family Dinner Book Club. (You might even choose A.A. Milne’s birthday on January 18th. If he were living, he’d be 132 years-old this year.) Set the table, prepare the food and settle in for a nice cozy dinner to discuss the book.
4. Don’t forget to snap a picture of your Family Dinner Book Club and share it with us on our Family Dinner Book Club Facebook page!
5. Then, head back here on February 1st, to see our new title for the month of February and participate all over again!
Happy reading, creating, cooking, eating and talking!
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Andrea @ No Doubt Learning says
What a great idea for a book club!!
Alicia says
I am stopping by from the No Time For Flashcards link up. I LOVE this idea! What a great great great idea! We started reading “Charlotte’s Web”, the first chapter book we’ve read with our almost 4 year old daughter, so I think we’ll continue that this month but I’d love to join in next month! This is a great idea! 🙂
Jodie Rodriguez says
Yeah Alicia, I’m so glad you like the idea and want to participate. Spoiler alert: Charlotte’s Web is on our schedule for the year too! Can’t wait to hear how your family dinner book club goes. Best wishes!
Celeste says
I’ve had fleeting thoughts about a family dinner reading time, but never tried it. This is super motivating and I love the idea of doing it large scale with your challenge! And a great first choice for my young boys. Thanks for a great idea!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Yeah Celeste! I’m so excited you will be joining in on the fun! I can’t wait to hear and see how it goes.
Andrea and Fin says
Hi from New Zealand!! Fin (6yrs) and I (mummy) are looking forward to to joining the Family Dinner Bookclub. This is a great idea. Fin loves reading. He is going to be in charge of preparing the dinner, setting the table etc on the special dinner nights. We couldn’t find the Winnie the Pooh book so we downloaded the app for our iPad.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Andrea and Fin, so glad you will be joining us and were able to acquire the book. It’s great that this club will be an international one! Can’t wait to see and hear about your dinner!
Kelly says
I LOVE this idea and would love to do it with my 14 year old. Any suggestions for books? She is an avid reader, and I suppose we could choose some of the required reading she has for 9th grade, but some of it is kind of blech. It would be fun to do this with a small group of friends, yet find some teen literature that isn’t all vampires and rubbish. 🙂
Jodie Rodriguez says
Kelly, I think that would be a super idea! Imagination Soup has a list of books that might be helpful. Here is the link: http://imaginationsoup.net/2012/10/the-best-new-middle-grade-ya-books-for-fall-2012/#_a5y_p=1001081. I’d love to hear how it goes!
PragmaticMom says
What a fun idea Jodie!! I love AA Milne!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you! We are all so excited to launch this project!