All About God’s Animals by Janyre Tromp
I am a starter of projects, and I am a connector of people.
The starter piece comes from the fact that I love to watch small ideas grow and spread, and the connector piece comes from the fact that I just flat out like people.
Toss together my one part starter, add my one part connector, and stir in my mad love for books, and you are left with my new book club, Gutsy Girls Read~Online Book Club for Moms and Daughters (<—–click to join).
When I started this online book club, I thought I could force a few far away friends to join. Maybe.
Confession: Back in the day, I kicked one of my best friends, Dusti, out of my book club. Yes, she was the only other member. Yes, that ended our book club, but I was thinking I could force some people (besides Dusti!) to join my new club.
Then I thought, maybe I shouldn’t limit the book club to people I knew. Maybe I should open up the book club to people everywhere who have a passion for books and who are invested in discovering quality books for girls ages toddler to teen. Maybe other people are interested in books that encourage adventure, imagination, leadership, bravery, and a desire to know God. Maybe others are seeking well-written books with strong female protagonists and real-life female heroes. All of these maybes kind of made me giddy.
So I created a group, and as it turns out, there are people who want all of the above mentioned goodness. Our book club is a closed group on Facebook, but considered yourself invited to join. Please disregard the fact that I tossed one of my best friends out of a previous book club. On my honor, I will not give you the boot.
If the idea of good books and people who love books doesn’t interest you enough, please add VIP access to the authors who write the books we read to your list of reasons to join. Yep, when we discuss a book, each book’s author jumps in and joins the conversation. In addition, because we discuss lots of books and members have/know/teach children of different ages, everyone is not required to purchase and read every book we discuss.
Now, who, who, who are these fabulous authors? Here is a sampling of what we have discussed and what’s next on our agenda:
The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still by Karlin Gray, a picture book about fourteen-year-old, gold medalist, Nadia Comaneci. Hello, perfect read for the upcoming Summer Olympics and perfect read for those of us who have a child who can’t sit still.
The Circle C Adventure Series by Susan Marlow. Susan has multiple series of books written for girls ages 6-teen. In the closed group, Susan shared a great story about how the cover of her first book came to be (um, where else will you get this behind the scenes kind of info?):
Question from book club participant: Will you tell everyone the original story behind the cover image on your book?Susan: That is quite a story. As marketing folks like to do, they ask the author for ideas for covers. I sent along a picture I’d snapped of a young friend from church who resembled (to some degree) the main character in my book, Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home. I expected design to use it as an idea and create some kind of illustrated cover (what did I know? I was SO GREEN!). I didn’t even know that usually, the author gets to see the cover before it becomes a book (but I did not see it). I went along my merry way until a friend emailed a month or two before the release and said, “I saw your new book on Amazon. Jessica must be thrilled.” Huh? Jessica thrilled about WHAT? I hurried over to Amazon and made the astounding discovery that Kregel had used the picture I’d sent. *whoa!* Quite a surprise to me and to Jessica. And . . . since I had hopes that this would become a series, well . . . yeah . . . that meant time to snap some more pictures! The whole story is over on the Circle C Adventures website under “Photo Gallery.”
Erin Weidemann, author of Bible Belles: Adventure of Rooney Cruz picture book series also stopped by our group to talk about her new book, where she likes to write, and even her dog, Rowdy.
July’s books include the following:
July 11th: All About God’s Animals a board book series by Janyre Tromp.
July 18th: She Loves Science: A Mother’s Guide to Nurturing the Curiosity, Confidence, and Creativity of Her Daughter by Tracy Borgmeyer.
So that’s it, friends. Summer is the perfect time for reading, let’s read some books together. Join the Gutsy Girls Read: Online Book Club here.
Your turn: What are you reading this summer? If you have girls, students, tweens, or teens in your life, what are they reading?
Commentaires