July Book Club

On each mapleleaf plate stood a cupcake
with raisins, several grapes, and a handful of

wild hazelnuts. Pg. 135

This month we had a Canadian Summer (I can dream, right?). Our stinkin' hot temperatures were tolerated a little bit better by immersing ourselves in the second adventure of the Mitchell family which finds them in a Canadian cottage making new friends and learning how to live in the rural town of Ste. Felice. Although most of the kids agreed that they enjoyed this story even more than the first, there just wasn't a whole lot I wanted to explore and frankly, my sinuses are having a terrible time coping with this season... so I kept the meeting pretty low key.

So, unthinkingly, they left the path and crashed

through brushwood and ferns in search of a bear
cave. But ne-er a one did they see. Only big round
blueberries which they commenced to eat. Pg. 76

We talked about their favorite parts of the story, favorite characters, anything that they found confusing or had questions about. Since this was our third Hilda van Stockum book we discussed her writing style and how bits of her real life have made their way into her stories. Did you know that the character of Uncle Jim was written in memory of her own brother?

Mother baked four huge cakes with maple sugar
icing, many panfuls of doughnuts, and a deep dish
of raisin cookies. The children popped lots of popcorn
and sprinkled it with salt and butter. Pg. 172

All of the food (blueberries, grapes, dipping pancakes with maple syrup) was referenced somewhere in the book and the activity was making our own maple syrup which the children got to take home in a bottle with a self-designed label. Next month is the final installment. The children were all thrilled to hear that the Mitchells are expecting twins!

Meanwhile Mother had taken care of dinner.
It was simple but good. Mother’s specialty was
fluffy pancakes drenched in maple sirup. Pg. 71