In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd share some lovely stories of mothers and daughters bonding over books!
Just got this cute picture in from Susan Rebecca White, the author of A SOFT PLACE TO LAND. The Atlanta based author has been on a road-trip with her mom, hitting bookstores all across the south.
I thought you’d enjoy seeing this mother / daughter team on an old-school book tour…just in time for Mother’s Day. In an age of e-books and Skype tours, there’s something very genuine about an author with a box of books in the backseat, don’t you think? And in case you’re wondering, the road trip soundtrack included Johnny Cash's CASH and Jim Croce's OPERATOR (she admits she’s a little embarrassed about the latter!).
And thanks to our wonderful readers who wrote in to tell us about their mother / daughter / book bonds:
Lynn Ketelsen from Falcon Heights, MN says:
My mother was a huge fan of Mary Higgins Clark and her novels. When she died in 1986, her collection of MHC books came to me. I read those same books and thoroughly enjoyed them. My daughter was born in 1990, so she never knew her grandmother. As she moved into her teens, my daughter became a huge mystery fan, but it was hard to find books that she hadn’t read and that were appropriate for her. MHC fit the bill! She had mystery and relationships (something that every teen girl wants to read about!) and they weren’t “little kid” books! Claire was hooked! Plus, she really enjoyed the fact that these were her grandmother’s books and one of her favorite authors!
My mom passed along her love of reading to me and through me to my daughter!
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
Renee Jones from Indianapolis, IN says:
My 9-year old daughter and I started a Mother-Daughter Book group in Midland Michigan in 1998. For three years, 12 sets of young daughters and moms met and discussed great children’s literature with strong female characters. Our meetings always had an activity and food related to the book and many of the books were set in other countries. These titles are still on my bookshelf and bring back fond memories of sharing stories with my daughter. She’s now a junior in college and we still share book recommendations.
Now years later, Mallory and I had fun looking back at the lists of books our group read….here are some of my favorites
A Proud Taste for Scarlet & Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
Just Juice by Karen Hessee
Bat 6 by Virginia Ewer Wolff
Anastasia Krupnick by Lois Lowry
Bloomability by Sharon Kreech
Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roark Dowell
I believe that sharing good writers with her at a young age helped support her interest in “reading for recreation”. We moved from the town when she was in 7th grade and leaving that book group was painful for both of us.
Thanks ladies and Happy Mother's Day to all!
-- Dana Barrett, Contributing Editor
