The Mother-Daughter Book Club series

Hello and welcome to a brand new month! This month as promised I will be featuring titles with mother daughter relationships as the central theme. This first selection is of a series of books that grabbed my attention from day one. And now the author sits in my Top 10 of favorite authors!! Have a read and let me know if you agree or not!! Oh, by the way, be prepared for everything!!

Titles: The Mother-Daughter Book Club, Much Ado about Anne, Dear Pen Pal, Pies and Prejudice, Home for the holidays, Wish you were Eyre

Author: Heather Vogel Frederick

Genre: Fiction – contemporary

Publication details: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; NY; 2007 – 2016

What these books are about: We meet four very different young sixth-grade girls in the first book, The Mother-Daughter Book Club when their mothers pressure them into forming a book club. Here they find, as they read and discuss “Little Women,” that they have much more in common than they could have imagined. In the second title, Much Ado about Anne, the girls continue their mother-daughter book club while entering seventh grade at Walden Middle School. This time they are reading L. M. Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables,” while dealing with a mean, trouble-making classmate. Everything changes for the book club in eighth grade in the next book, Dear Pen Pal. The book club decides to read Jean Webster’s classic “Daddy-Long-Legs” and there’s an added twist this year when they become pen pals with the girls in a book club in Wyoming. There’s plenty to write to their new friends about, from a prank-filled slumber party to a not-so-secret puppy and even a surprise first kiss. Pies & Prejudice starts with an unexpected twist. The book club members are stunned – but thanks to videoconferencing, they can still keep the club alive, and they decide to tackle Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” In Home for the Holidays the four girls continue their mother-daughter book club, reading Maud Hart Lovelace’s “Betsy-Tacy” books, but from unexpected blizzards to a sledding disaster, nothing goes as planned. The final book, Wish you were Eyre, as the Book Club reads “Jane Eyre“, the girls and some of their mothers are involved in some serious competitions and it all ends with many surprises.

My review: Sometimes a girl just wants to read about other girls just like themselves!! In this series I found myself wanting to be part of the ‘Mother-Daughter Book Club’! This is hands down, an amazing series!! It starts off in the sixth grade with the first book where we meet the characters; Emma Hawthorne, the book-lover, Jess Delaney, her best friend, Cassidy Sloane, Megan Wong, and Becca Chadwick, who  joins up from the second book. They begin by reading classic American books such as Little Women, which is basically set in their hometown of Concord, New England, and in the second one they read Anne of Green Gables and so on. From each book they read they learn ‘fun facts’ about each author and also learn things about each other. With each passing year, they face many new and scary challenges. Despite it being mainly about the girls, there are also many new experiences like an unexpected baby sister; budding romances, and so much more which I won’t divulge!! I really like the different voices of the girls and the funny things that happen to them. I also like it when they play pranks on people and get into trouble and end up having the most ingenious punishments doled out to them. Supporting cast members in extended family and siblings color these stories in a myriad of ways. Told in the true distinct voices of the different girls, the reader experiences it more like a movie!! You feel as if you’re there with them going through each worry and heartache and happy moment the have! I couldn’t put them down!! Especially because there’s a LIBRARIAN as one of the mothers!!!

A must read for girls of all ages!! Mothers and daughters especially, this one’s for you!! Be you young or old, I’m sure these would take you to your childhood as you re-read bits of precious classics you enjoyed with these girls!! I loved the whole series and look forward to all she has to write in the future!!

My rating: 5 ⭐

A quick note: Although this is a series, each story by itself is a great read. It doesn’t matter where you start from. In saying that, if you can read them from the beginning, the series will be more enjoyable!!