WELCOME

WELCOME! For the last 17 years, about once a month, usually on a Thursday evening, a group of writers, illustrators, teachers and librarians meets in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles to discuss children's books. Lately we have started meeting at lunch time, once every three months. Usually we talk about one picture book and one middle grade or YA novel. After the meeting, Sandy Schuckett, a retired LAUSD librarian, summarizes our discussion. Here are her reports of our thoughts about the books we have read. We'd love to have your comments too!
Thanks to Nancy Hayashi for our wonderful title art! NOTE: We are changing to a new schedule. Our meetings will now be quarterly and during the afternoon. Our group has been meeting since 2007. It was organized under the auspices of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California (CLCSC).

Thursday, November 3, 2011

COME ON, RAIN by Karen Hesse and AL CAPONE SHINES MY SHOES by Jennifer Choldenko

Our discussions on Nov. 3 were great. We only had five people, but really delved into both books.

Picture Book: Come On, Rain by Karen Hesse:  Regarding the picture book -- we all loved it. We thought the text was perfect and really gave the feeling of the desire for rain on a hot day in the city. We had a long discussion about the illustrations, which were mostly wonderful......a bit of difference of opinion on the anorexic-looking 'stick figure' girls when they were enjoying the rain.....differences of opinion are what makes our group so much fun.
Novel: Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko:  As far as life on Alcatraz -- we thought the first book about this group of kids was better, but agreed that this one was a 'good read' that kids would probably like, even though there were a lot of untied loose ends, and some situations which could have been developed further -- the prison break, for example, and also some questions about Al Capone, and his real place in the story.
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