Dad's Book Club: The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Higher Power of Lucky

This year, one of Dawna's goals was to create a "Read it-see-it" book club with some friends.  The first book the girls picked out was this:

To be honest, I'd never heard of it before the Ringleins suggested we read it. So we checked it out and Dawna read it... and Jon read it... and then I read it... and it was a good read! A moving coming-of-age story as one young foster child learns how to be part of a pieced together family. And then learns how her own selfish and hasty actions could change her life forever...

The movie was also very enjoyable.  It's set in a more modern time frame than the book was, but still carried the message well. We watched it over at the Ringlein's house and had a very good discussion with the girls after, comparing and contrasting the book and the movie, discussing thematic elements... next time I'll have to take notes so I can blog better about it...

Bottom line: recommended!

But Dawna's Read it-See it club isn't the only place we're getting story time these days... You see, Dawna was recently moved up to the competitive climbing team at The Peak, which means practices three times each week... sigh... I feel like a real commuter now... between Dawna's climbing and Xochitl's gymnastics, I'm driving about 40 min. to and from practices 4 out of 5 days a week... So I thought I'd make better use of the drive time by checking out books on CD from the library (yes, I know about Audible, but my old '07 Odyssey has a great 6-disk CD player, and no Aux input, so books on CD it is...)

In the last two weeks driving around town for sports, we've listened to an entire book:

...the Newbery winner from 2007.  Also a fun book to read. Lucky, the main character, is just 10 years old, Dawna's age right now, and Lucky's mannerisms and behavior were perfect for that age, I thought! Lucky lives in a little town called Hard Pan, CA, with her guardian after her mother died. Lucky is smart, always doing her homework so she can be a world famous scientist someday.  Lucky is brave, chasing snakes out of clothes dryers and staying calm in dust storms. Lucky is thoughtful, considering questions such as "What is my higher power?" But most of all, Lucky is still just a little girl who needs to feel secure and loved, which makes me think of my baby Dawna... who is not much of a baby anymore, but just like Lucky, needs to be picked up and snuggled from time to time so she can remember how much she is loved!

Bottom line: recommended... but be advised there is a somewhat lengthy chapter involving a dog's scrotum...parental discretion (or better yet, discussion...) is advised :)

SO... we're on to a new Read it-See it assignment and new discs in the car...