My 14 year old daughter and I hosted an online Mother-Daughter Christy Miller Book Club this summer and it was was, in a word, epic. Is epic overused? Well, in our little world, it was epic.
I have loved the Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn since I was in Middle School. The 3rd book, Yours Forever stayed in my locker all of my 8th grade year and I must have read it five times that year.
Through the years, I’ve given it to my younger sisters-in-law, my cousins’ kids, my niece, and of course, my daughter. I absolutely love sharing the books with people because I think it’s a book with a story and a message that girls need to hear and know.
When my daughter and I decided to do a Zoom Book Club with a slew of her best friends, I contemplated doing it with just me as the leader. I didn’t want to stress out the moms to have to be there. Then, I realized how great it would be to have conversation with the girls and their moms.
So, we sent out an email inviting them to our four-week Book Club. I gave them links to all the places they could get the books (our local library app has them for download!) and the Zoom link for our first meeting.
(I copied the original email with all our details on Google Drive for you as a reference. You can copy it, just add your details!)
We read the first 3 books (Volume 1) of the 12-book series: Summer Promise, Whisper and a Wish, and Yours Forever. Each week we talked about one book. I downloaded the Discussion Questions from Robin Jones Gunn’s website for $1.99 and they were totally worth it.
Before we met for our first meeting, my daughter and I made a little activity guide for the first book. It included a thematic craft, snack and Scriptures to study. As I reread the book (which took maybe an hour or two), I highlighted all the Scriptures I came across, then added them to this list.
My daughter and I then collected the supplies for the suggested craft, packed them up in a large envelope and added our activity sheet. We delivered theses little packages to everyone’s mailboxes for a fun surprise and to whet their appetite for the fun we’d have online.
At the Book Club, we’d start off talking about some random discussion question to break the ice. Something like, “Who’s been to the farthest away beach?” or “Tell us a cool thing you’ve done at the beach.” Whenever anyone gave an answer, we’d put their name in a hat. (This was very low-key and silly. Not strict!) Plus, anyone who had made the craft showed it off, we put their name in the hat. At the end of the meeting, we drew a name and gave a prize away (usually something I found at Walmart for $2). I’d then deliver it to them next week with their Book Discussion packet.
For the actual book discussion, we just walked through the discussion questions. As the leader, I would sometimes say, “Moms, what do you think?” I wanted them to feel like we were all leading the conversation. So much wisdom came from them as they weighed in on these teenage issues.
If I’d been having this Book Club at our house, like in non-covid days, we would have had fun thematic snacks, done fun thematic crafts and more. So, we tried to do the same with our little mailbox surprises.
Here’s a run down of what we did for each week. You can download the PDFs we used for your own Book Club if you’d like.
Week 1: Summer Promise
Craft: White carnations like the ones Todd gives to Christy at the end of the book. I used this easy tutorial. We printed it the directions for each person and included them along with 2-3 pipe cleaners and a few sheets of tissue paper.
Snack: Ice Cream bars–like the Balboa bars Christy and Todd eat. (Of course, it would be fun to include these, but I couldn’t figure out how to keep them cold in the mailbox! You could tell everyone to pick their favorite and bring it to the Zoom to eat together.)
Week 2: A Whisper and a Wish
Craft: Tye-Die Pillow Case to represent the slumber party Christy and Katie go to together. I had a tie-dye kit I bought after-summer-sale last year. It included gloves, rubber bands and several bottles of dye. So, we gave each girl two colors of dye and the rest of the supplies. Plus, a white pillowcase. (I had those leftover from a craft at camp one year. Found ’em on Amazon. I bet you could find some old used ones at the thrift store or even around your own house.)
No snack idea this time, but we did have a fun Activity Suggestion: the chair demonstration that Rick and Katie did in youth group. It’s a good one!
Week 3: Yours Forever
Craft: Make a FOREVER friendship bracelet (like Christy’s!). My daughter’s friends are into friendship bracelets, so they know how to do this. My daughter and I, on the other hand, aren’t that great at it. So, we just gave them a skien or two of embroidery floss, plus alphabet beads to spell FOREVER.
Snack: We gave the suggestion to make your own gourmet chocolate chip cookies like Uncle Bob’s. Annnd, an assortment of international cheeses like the Millers give for Christmas. (You’ll have to read the book to get this joke! LOL!)
Week 4 was our live Zoom with Robin! See what happened here!
Click the image below to download your PDFs.
When you look at the PDFs, you’ll also see quotes and the Scriptures we chose for studying.
We clearly, didn’t make anyone do any of this stuff. We just gave it as a way for everyone to have the same fun, even if we were separated.
You could always do it more structured–asking everyone to show off their craft, or post it online.
Or if you like cooking, you could even make food and deliver it in time for the book club so you could all eat together online.
You could make it more of a Bible study by asking girls to bring their Bibles–or do some Bible journaling/doodling on specific Scriptures.
You could add a prayer time or have a mom do a devotion at the end of the club.
There are so many fun ways to make the book club reflect your girls and interests! If any of this inspires you, I’d love to hear more about your Book Club! Please tag me on social media (@oohamanda on Instagram, @ohamandablog on Facebook) and tag Robin Jones Gunn (@robinjonesgunn), too!
And don’t forget, if you’re a homeschooling mom (or a new digital learning mom!), check out the Novel Study/Literature Unit for Robin Jones Gunn’s Summer Promise! It will be an awesome addition to your homeschool.
