Family is all about connections. Reading and discussing books can help with those connections by providing a safe environment in which to discuss current, complex, germane, and sensitive issues within the context of discussing the book. This is one of the premises behind the practical and well written Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs by Cindy Hudson.

Hudson feels that the benefits of a mother-daughter book club include the following:

• Enhancing your daughter’s reading skills
• Staying connected with your daughter as she grows
• Nurturing your daughter’s self-confidence
• Helping your daughter learn life skills
• Spending social time with other moms/girls
• Building a community of caring friends

Book by Book provides meticulous outlines, examinations, participant quotes, and expert advice for such considerations as your daughter’s age, the right size of the book club, who to invite, meeting venues and calendar, meeting ideas, choosing books, and managing discussions. Hudson offers ideas and concrete examples of how to tie books and themes to field trips, author meetings and other extracurricular and rewarding activities are. The last section of the book deals with book club challenges – touchy subjects, conflict wit members, leaving or new members, and restructuring (with a sample survey for current members). Three appendices, offering resources for where to find books on the web, book suggestions – with brief synopses, and tried-and-true recipes from mother-daughter members, are included.

Book by Book, is based on Hudson’s firsthand experience as the founder of two long-running successful mother-daughter book clubs. For years she, along with her two daughters, Catherine and Madeleine, has participated in book

Cindy Hudson with her daughters Catherine and Madeleine. Photo by Jill Greenseth.

clubs that have encouraged maturity and poise in her daughters as well as bonded them tightly through being able to discuss a wide range of topics in a safe environment. Hudson has taken her years of experience as a mother, writer, book club organizer, and participant and written a fantastic how-to for mother interested in creating book clubs for their daughters and themselves.

Visit Cindy online at http://www.motherdaughter.bookclub.com/

You can order your copy of through Amazon, Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs, or at your local bookseller.