This morning about a dozen of us braved the elements (some better prepared than others) to gather in Mother Superior's Chamber at The Convent in Abbotsford for Book Group.
The theme for this month was Happy Endings and the three books were: May Gibbs Snugglepot and Cuddlepie; picture books by Shirley Hughes; and the YA novel The Changeover by Margaret Mahy. The youngest of these was the Shirley Hughes Christmas book, the oldest the almost 100 year old Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
It was fascinating to look not just at the content but the style of these three books and to talk about the way stories are told in different eras - what is the same and what changes. There was discussion about whether illustrations date more or less than text. Discussion also wafted into other territory including writing representing another culture, the difference between cultural respect and political correctness, all the way to epublishing and its challenges.
At lunch we also reorganised existing representative (or not) organisations into new forms that communicated with and supported all stakeholders in children's literature.
Such is the power of the book group. :)
