Mother-Daughter Book Club

The Mother-Daughter Book Club

Goodreads summarizes:

The book club

is about to get

a makeover….

 Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma’s already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month.

But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can’t help but wonder: What would Jo March do?

Acclaimed author Heather Vogel Frederick will delight daughters of all ages in a novel about the fabulousness of fiction, family, and friendship.

This book is a darling, fun read for girls of all ages; I initially picked this book up because the title got me interested in the idea of a book club.  The first in the series by Vogel includes a group of moms and daughters forming a group to read a book together, and the book they read is appropriately, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Because the group is initially formed by the mothers, the ladies in the book each have different groups of friends, some of which don’t like each other.  Thus, the first meeting is a bit of a disaster! Also, the teenage girls aren’t too keen on spending their free time reading and hanging out with their mothers.

However, through meetings, seasons, a trip to NYC, and tears, the girls end up being good friends by the end of the book.  The characters of the girls are very realistic, especially in their relationships with their mothers.  Of course, now I see this book as a mother, and was more intrigued by the parents, who were a bit more flat than the main young lady characters, but that is the intended audience.  I love the structure of using Little Women as a threaded plot from classic literature, as well as the quotes opening each chapter.  Vogel did a nice job weaving that in without it becoming confusing.

This is a really fun book – I’d love to see actual mom-daughter groups reading it, along with Little Women – that’d be fun! The plot runs at a good pace, the characters are interesting, and it includes a great novel about women; I highly recommend this darling read.