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. 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, September 16, 2010

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney, and WUMP WORLD by Bill Peet

We had a great discussion at our "Wimpy/Wumpy" meeting last Thursday. We were 50-50 on the picture book...half liked it, the other half - not so much. But when we started talking about the fact that it was published in 1970, many of the 'non-likers' changed their opinion a bit, since it was unique for its time and, in fact, portended things to come....probably very 'dystopian' before that word was even part of our vocabulary.
As for the novel, there were also mixed feelings (which is what makes our group so much fun!). Some thought it was terrific for getting kids - especially young middle school boys - into reading 'real' books. Others thought it was basically worthless, and that kids should be reading more 'excellent' literature, with characters you care about, significant stories, etc. Our discussion ultimately led into the books we all loved as kids, and their merits (or demerits -- as the case may be!) It was a great group meeting, as usual.