Our First meeting after theSummer holidays was on Thursday 17th of September. We had some new members and kids from last year as well. This meeting was all about picture books for older kids. There are some realy great picture books aimed at older children that often get missed, they can  have fantastic pictures and great stories in them. Some books just have pictures and you have to guess the story. We picked two books to look at together

Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti & Ian Mc Ewan

Rose Blanche was the name of a group of young German citizens who, at their peril, protested against the war. Like them, Rose observes all the changes going on around her which others choose to ignore. She watches as the streets of her small German town fill with soldiers. One day she sees a little boy escaping from the back of a truck, only to be captured by the mayor and shoved back into it. Rose follows the truck to a desolate place out of town, where she discovers many other children, staring hungrily from behind an electric barbed wire fence. She starts bringing the children food, instinctively sensing the need for secrecy, even with her mother. Until the tide of the war turns and soldiers in different uniforms stream in from the East, and Rose and the imprisoned children disappear for ever . . .

Grandfather's Journey By Allan Say

A Japanese-American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America, which he later undertakes himself, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.


After reading and taking about these books we had a look at other picture books for older readers

 

And then everyone picked up the book for the next meeting on  Thursday the 15th of October

Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire by Andy Stanton

 

 

Journey to the river sea

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

It is 1910 and Maia, tragically orphaned at 13, has been sent from England to start a new life with distant relatives in Manaus, hundreds of miles up the Amazon. She is accompanied by an eccentric and mysterious governess who has secret reasons of her own for making the journey. Both soon discover an exotic world bursting with new experiences in this highly colourful, joyous and award-winning adventure.

Maia is sent to live with relations in a town on the Amazon in Brazil. Nothing turns out as she had expected and she has a pretty miserable time until she makes friends with Finn who lives in the jungle near her house and Clovis a child who works in an  acting company on tour in Brazil
This was the last book we read before the Summer holidays, I love this book as it has lots of twists and turns, the characters are interesting and it's a really great story. It wasn't everyone's  favourite as it is quite long and there is a lot going on in the plot. Some people found it a bit confusing to keep track of everything that is happening. Some of our group would recommend it though.

As this was our last meeting before the summer we had a vote to see what our most popular books during the year were. Our top three reads were:

1st "Beyond the Cherry Tree" by Joe O'Brien

2nd "There’s a boy in the Girls Bathroom" by Louis Sacar

3rd "The Firework Maker's Daughter" by Phillip Pullman

Everyone loved Joe O' Brien's book "Beyond the Cherry Tree" We were lucky enough to have a visit from Joe for one of our meetings where we got to quiz him on the characters and story. Louis Sacar and Philip Pullman were close and highly recommended as well

Book for meeting in May

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo

 

 

It’s 1943, and Lily Tregenza lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Her life is scarcely touched by the war until one day Lily and her family, along with all of the other villagers, are told to move out of their homes – lock, stock and barrel.
Soon, the whole area is out of bounds, as the Allied forces practice their landings for D-day, preparing to invade France. But Tips, Lily’s adored cat, has other ideas – barbed wire and keep-out signs mean nothing to her, nor does the danger of guns and bombs. Frantic to find her, Lily decides to cross the wire into the danger zone to look for Tips herself…

The book for our next book club meeting in May  is "The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips" by Michael Morpurgo. Pick up your book at the library desk in Ballyroan  

Wilderness By Roddy Doyle

 

A novel of mothers lost and found. Grainne's Mom disappeared years ago when her parents were divorced, and Mom moved to the U.S. Now, bafflingly, she's reappeared and wants to meet. What could she be up to?
To get out of the way of this mysterious reunion, Grainne's half-brothers, Johnny and Tom, go with their mother, Sandra, on an "adventure holiday" in Finland. But before they're more than a few days into the snowy north, the boys are separated from Sandra, taking impossible risks to save her life. WILDERNESS is part-adventure, part-family drama with a charm that's all Roddy.

 

Our book for April was "Wilderness" by Roddy Doyle, we all had a really good talk about what we liked and thought about the book. Johnny and Tom go on holidays to the Artic Circle in Finland with their mother and become friends with the husky dogs who are going to be pulling their sleighs on their expeditions. Meanwhile their half sister Grainne stays in Dublin to meet her mother. There are two stories in the book really, one set in Finland with the boys and their mother and the other back home in Dublin with Grainne and her mother.

 

Some people felt that the story went a too smoothly as it has a happy ending, others had read some of Roddy Doyle's other books which are quite funny and expected more laughs but "Wilderness"  is a bit more serious. Kalle the man who looks after the huskys was a favourite character. All in all I think we liked the book. We also watched a Wilderness book trailer  and filled in maps of the countries where the boys went and the route they took to the Artic Circle.

Our book for May is on the way! Will let everyone know once it arrives

March Meeting

Beyond the Cherry Tree by Joe O' Brien

 

 

 

Josh Bloom is on a field trip with his class to Cherry Tree Manor; while the house and gardens are beautiful, what really interests the class is the fact that Manor's owner, General Edgar Pennington, disappeared mysteriously exactly twelve years to the day before their visit to the Manor …

To Josh, it seems like there's something spooky about the manor. None of the other kids feel it, but Josh seems more attuned to the house, which leads him to discover something in the General's library that sends him on an adventure of a lifetime.

Josh thinks he is on a journey to find the missing General, but soon discovers that it's his own destiny that he is really searching for … there are links between him and the missing General that he never could have guessed … Josh quest takes him to the enchanting land of Habilon, full of danger, excitement and magic.

Will he ever return from the land beyond the Cherry Tree?

 

 

Really great March meeting, we were lucky enough to have the author of the book we were reading for this month Joe O' Brien call in. Joe read some pieces from his book and told us about where he gets his ideas from and inspiration for his books and characters. We were able to ask lots of questions and it really brought the book to life

 

Also Check out Joe O' Brien's blog he mentioned his trip to Ballyroan Library in it. We loved

"Under the Cherry Tree"It has lots of very different characters and a fast moving story. Joe also has a series of books based on Alfie Green which are great and lots of our book club members have read them and are big fans

 

 

Meeting from the 26th of February

The Firework Maker's Daughter by Phillip Pullman

 

 

 

What Lila wants to be more than anything else in the world is . . . a Firework-Maker!

But firework-making is not just about being able to make Crackle-Dragons and Golden Sneezes. There is also one special secret: every Firework-Maker must make a perilous journey to face the terrifying Fire-Fiend!

Not knowing that she needs special protection to survive the Fire-Fiend's flames, Lila sets off alone. Her friends, Chulak and Hamlet - the King's white elephant - race after her. But can they possibly reach her in time?

Thanks to everyone for coming to our last meeting. Everyone who came along had read this book and I think enjoyed it. Really great story. We had a lot of discussion about where the book might be set but agreed on somewhere in Asia. Lila wants to be a firework maker like her dad and sets out on a trip to Mount Merapi to get the royal sulphur that she will need but doesn't realise what danger she is in. She has many adventures along the way while her friend Chaluk tries to save her...  Is Lila completely bonkers setting off to climb into a haunted volcano by herself? We thought so!

I think our book club would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something different to read, it contains magic and adventure and it's not a very long book so it can be read quite quickly.

After chatting about the book we did some crosswords based on the story and then we had a quiz. We divided up into two teams, well done to Alex's team who won by two points, very close!

If anyone is interested in reading more books by Phillip Pullman check out his website, he has also written some books for teens and adults. We have most of his children's books in the library.

Our next book for our March meeting is "Beyond the Cherry Tree" by Joe O'Brien.
For anyone who didn't get their copy yet  it is available from the library desk, just ask for the Junior Book Club Book

 

Also don't forget World Book Day is on Thursday 5th of March! Happy Reading

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone by J.K Rowling

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Just wondering if anyone has tried the Harry Potter Books? Would really recommend them, I think some of our book club members would love them if they haven't read them already. We  had a really fun time here in the library at platform 9 and three quarters for #HarryPotterBookNight ! on February the 5th and got  lots of brand new copies of the Harry Potter Series for the event. The events were open to anyone who wanted to book in but I  thought our book club might like to hear about it : )

 
 
 
To start off with we had a Harry Potter story time with Helen & Mark from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" which lots of kids came to and some even dresses up as witches and wizards!

Afterwards we had a spell book & Potion making class with Professor Sarah where everyone designed their own spell books and made magic potions





Then we had a sorting ceremony where everyone put on the sorting hat and were sorted into their houses-Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Raven Claw, each Hogwarts student got a sticker with their house on it


Once the sorting hat had finished we started our
quiz with teams from the
different Hogwarts houses Our questions were pretty hard but everyone must have been reading up on Hogwarts as the houses got so many of the questions right . The quiz scores were really high but in the end there was a winning team, can anyone guess who won? !

Don't forget our next book club meeting is tomorrow Thursday the 25th of Feb at 3.30pm here in Ballyroan Library, we are reading "The Firework maker's daughter" by Phillip Pullman,  hope to see you there!

For our January meeting on the 15th we read "The Lion the witch and the wardrobe" by C.S Lewis

Four adventurous siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy series, which has been drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over sixty years.

Thanks to everyone who came along to our last meeting. We just want to say a goodbye to Charlotte who is going to be moving house, maybe  you can check out what we are reading through this blog.

"The lion the witch and the wardrobe" is a great read and  I think a lot of us really enjoyed this story. There are lots of interesting characters including the White Witch who was a favourite! Lucy first discovers the world of Narnia while hiding in a wardrobe in a big old house she and her brothers and sister have been sent to stay in during World War 2. She goes back and tells  Peter and Edmund and Susan all about it, but they don't believe her. Eventually they all get transported to Narnia through the wardrobe and find a magical land ruled by the evil White Witch!

The White Witch gives Edmund enchanted Turkish Delight to put a spell on him. We also had some magical Turkish delight of our own to get into the spirit of things ! Not everyone's favourite but fun to try

 

 

I also found some magical maps of Narnia in the library and in case anyone ever gets lost there we handed out copies

 

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the Narnia series and some of us are going to try some of the other books. FYI many of the books have been made into movies.

 

Our book for next month is "The Firemaker's Daughter"  by Phillip Pullman, if anyone missed the last meeting and needs to pick up a copy please ask for it at the library desk. Our meeting next meeting  will be on  Thursday the 26th of February, see you then!

In our last meeting before Christmas we read "There's a boy in the girls bathroom" by Louis Sachar

This is a story about Bradley Chalker who is mean and horrible to everyone in his class, doesn't have any friends and never ever does his homework. When a new boy arrives in his class things begin to change a bit and Bradley almost starts to make friends with him. Carla the new school councillor also helps Bradley and things start to look up for him.

We had a really great chat about this book. Bradley is a great character who totally transforms from the start of the book into someone very likable. Carla turned out to be a lot of people's favourite character, she is very different to what you would imagine a school councillor to be like and quite unpredictable. Really pleased to say that nearly everyone loved this book! Hope everyone likes our next read as much

The book for our next meeting on 15th of January is "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"
by C.S. Lewis