Johnny Tremain

Hello everyone! I was both excited and nervous when I was asked to make the next book selection for us "Busy Gals." I am not well read in the classic genre, and seem to be pretty simple minded when it comes to reading them. I take things at face value, so I wanted to try and find a book that didn't have hidden meaning or philosophy. However, the purpose of this book club is to "to seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” D& C 88:118 so, I wanted to find a book that we could learn something meaningful from. I love historical fiction,  where I can learn history from the viewpoint of someone actually living it.  Instead of just facts, you read about their emotions, so the cause and effect become more real. Most of the classics that have historical aspects to them, are about wars. Some of them were reviewed to be pretty graphic with war scenes, and I am not a fan of blood and guts. I chose Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes  in hopes that since the main character is not a soldier in the war, and it is a children's novel, that the war scenes would not be very graphic. The book begins just prior to the revolutionary war and continues through the Boston Tea Party, the British blockade of the Port of Boston, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord. I read this book sometime during my school years and all I remember from it, is that something happens to his hand. I am excited to read it again with my adult perspective and see what I think about it now. I am curious what you guys think about it being a children's book, but one of the themes being about the philosophies behind starting a war. I guess we shall read it and find out just how much philosophy we get out of it.  There is a Disney movie made in 1957 that we can watch when we meet. I will be going out of town for the first couple weeks in March so I was thinking about  meeting sometime around the 23rd. How does that sound? I hope you enjoy my book pick! Brandi

New Selection For February

Brandi has our next selection. Starting right now we will be reading Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes.

A good time was had by all!

We had fun at our "O'Henry" meeting in Crane. Food was delicious (Bobbie even brought "Oh Henry" candy bars), and the discussion was fun. We liked the "twist" in most of the short stories, but found some of the stories hard to understand. The 1950's movie that included 5 of the stories gave a decidedly "Hollywood" version of the stories (not quite what we had hoped for!), but we sure had fun! Looking forward to the next selection!

Next book selection?

Do we have a next book selection yet?