February Meeting Wrap-Up

The Book Buddies Book Club met yesterday afternoon to discuss our February book, The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin.  We had a wonderful meeting with our largest turnout yet!  Thanks to everyone who came and participated.

We began with our Book Trivia lightning round which has become a fixture of our club meetings (and is a great way to refresh your memory on the details of the story!)  Everyone did a great job and obviously read the book very closely as they all knew all the answers! 

We began our book discussion by talking about the character of Pacy/Grace, what kind of person she is and why she has two names.  We thought that she seemed like a really nice person, someone that we might be friends with and that it wasn't really fair that she couldn't use her Chinese name "Pacy" at school.

We talked about the important Chinese traditions that Pacy's family observes, from the Chinese New Year dinner to the red egg party, and some of our own family traditions and why they are important to us. 

We discussed Pacy and Melody's friendship, what makes them such great friends and their challenges with the science fair project (which we all agreed sounded like a really cool and creative project, they just needed to consider the other variables a little more closely).

Finally we discussed Pacy's journey to finding her talent and thought about our own talents.  While we all have many talents to share some of us are particularly talented in singing, art, and dancing and others have talent handling and working with animals.

Following our discussion we looked Behind the Story, and discovered that a lot of The Year of the Dog is actually true.  In addition, we revisited our interview with Grace Lin from 2008 in which she talks about aspects of The Year of the Dog that are based on her childhood.

We also read The Story of the Chinese Zodiac and used the Chinese Zodiac Chart to figure out our animals signs.  (I am a horse!)

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, we finished up by making Chinese New Year banners celebrating either The Year of the Dog (in honor of our book) or The Year of the Snake (2013).  A few people choose to do their birth year instead and there were a couple of banners celebrating the Year of the Horse.

Our meeting would not have been complete without a few tasty, book-related snacks and so we indulged in fortune cookies and Pacy's favorite candy, M&Ms!

Thanks to all the Book Buddies members who attended and I look forward to seeing you all again in March!

Meeting Reminder

Just a reminder that the Book Buddies Book Club will meet on Monday, February 25th @ 3:30pm to discuss The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin.  Come for book discussion, snacks and a celebration of Chinese New Year.  

Registration is required.  If you are new to the group and would like to join us, please let me know you are coming by calling the Children's Desk at 401-847-8720 ext. 204 or emailing me at cgould@newportlibraryri.org.

See you Monday! 

Year of the Dog Reading Recommendations

The Year of the Dog follows Pacy through a year of her life as she finds friends and finds herself.  If you like reading stories about Chinese New Year or stories featuring Chinese-Americans, here are a few more for you to check out:

The Star Maker by Laurence Yep

With the help of his popular Uncle Chester, a young Chinese American boy tries hard to fulfill a promise to have firecrackers for everyone on the Chinese New Year in 1954.

Happy New Year, Julie by Megan McDonald

The first Christmas since Julie's parents' divorce is difficult for the whole family, but Julie finds comfort sharing the Chinese New Year traditions of her best friend, Ivy Ling, and thinking about new beginnings.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan Long Shang

Eleven-year-old aspiring basketball star and interior designer Lucy Wu is excited about finally having her own bedroom, until she learns that her great-aunt is coming to visit and Lucy will have to share a room with her for several months, shattering her plans for a perfect sixth-grade year.

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng

Follows a young Chinese American girl, as she navigates relationships with family, friends, and her fourth-grade classroom, and finds a true best friend.

Books by Grace Lin

Grace Lin has written many wonderful books for children.  Come in and check out her other books today!

The Year of the Rat

In the Chinese Year of the Rat, a young Taiwanese American girl faces many challenges: her best friend moves to California and a new boy comes to her school, she must find the courage to forge ahead with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and she must learn to find the beauty in change.

Dumpling Days

When Pacy, her two sisters, and their parents go to Taiwan to celebrate Grandma's sixtieth birthday, the girls learn a great deal about their heritage.


Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor village, buys a magical goldfish, and then joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and freshness to Jade River.


Starry River of the Sky

An innkeeper's chore boy discovers that a visitor's stories hold the key to returning the moon to the Starry River of the Sky.

February Author: Grace Lin

Grace Lin is the talented author of our February book The Year of the Dog.  She is one of my favorite children's authors and lives just outside of Boston with her family.  Find out all about her at her website.

See a video interview with Grace Lin at Reading Rockets and check out the Book Buddies interview we conducted with her in February of 2008!

February Book

The February Book Buddies book will be... The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin!  We will meet to discuss the book and have a Chinese New Year celebration on Monday, February 25th @ 3:30pm.  Hope to see you all there!

Registration is required. If you would like to join Book Buddies (for readers in grades 3 - 6) we would love to have you! To sign up, call the Children's Desk at 401-847-8720 ext. 204 or email me at cgould@newportlibraryri.org.

Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.

Copies of the book are available at the Children's Desk.