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