It's elementary, my dear book club boys

In The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett, the first book of the Sherlock Files series, Xena and Xander Holmes are tasked with solving their famous ancestor's unsolved mysteries. Using their genetic powers of deduction, the brother and sister solve a 100-year-old secret.

The boys in Garrett's Book Club for Boys were also able to hone their powers of deduction during October's book club meeting as they solved a jack-o-lantern deduction puzzle, ate traditional british treats, and played a life-sized game of Clue.

Using themselves as the suspects and a variety of possible household weapons, the boys moved one square tile at a time into each section of Garrett's house to try to deduce who did what in which room. After a slight learning curve, the boys caught on to how the solve the mystery and Caiden guessed the first culprit, room, and weapon correctly.

Unfortunately, before the boys could finish another game, moms came and they had to be happy to solve another mystery using their new magnifying glasses they received with next month's book, The Castle in the Attic.

Because of Veteran's Day, the next meeting will be on Thursday, November 18, at 4:00 at Garrett's house.

Fourth Grade Nothings

"Soon Fudge would be a famous television star and I would be plain old Peter Hatcher---fourth grade nothing" (Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, 90).

Most of the boys in the club are starting fourth grade this year. And, most of the boys have younger brothers or sisters that steal their spotlights. But, it wasn't until we reread this classic Judy Blume tale of ruined school projects and eaten turtles that I realized Garrett and his little brother, Ryker, are the exact same age difference as Peter and Fudge.

So, to begin this month's book club, I promptly put a sticker on Garrett's wily, mischievous little brother to name him "Honorary Fudge." He then promptly took it off and ate it. So, I put it on his back so he couldn't eat it. He played his part well.

As the boys arrived, they each had the chance to guess the number of jelly beans in a fish bowl to have a chance to win a fish. (Spencer's mom helped me by looking for turtles, but with the kit of everything you need to take care of a turtle, the cost was too prohibitive for book club's $8 a month dues. We settled for a fish.) As the boys used their estimating skills to figure out the number of jelly beans in the bowl, Ryker continued the birthday theme by dancing around wearing a party hat and singing happy birthday to himself.

After the guesses and after all the boys arrived, we went outside for a tricycle race. Garrett M.'s mom was nice enough to donate her tricycle for the cause as was a neighbor mom. (Our Fudge has yet to get his own tricycle.) I explained the bracket for the racing tournament and the boys were off.

Unfortunately, eight- and nine-year-old boys riding tricycles in a competitive spirit is a recipe for disaster. So, without completing the bracket, we retired inside for the rest of the festivities.

Gathered around the birthday party themed table, the boys voted for the book they will read in November, The Castle in the Attic, and the vice-president for next month, Garrett M. They then answered questions about the book to earn swings at the birthday party pinata. Finally, after the pinata was broken and the candy gathered, the boys ate birthday cake out of dog bowls in honor of Fudge's demands to eat as a dog. Mason left with the beta fish and Zack, who was next closest, won the bowl of jelly beans. The rest of the boys left with next month's book, The 100-Year-Old Secret, and a turtle-themed treat bag.

The Honorary Fudge, however, still reigns supreme at our house and still insists it is his birthday, even when it is actually his older brother's. Happy 9th birthday, Garrett! (September 28)

P.S. Because most of the boys are getting out earlier from school this year, we're going to move the time book club meets to 4:00 p.m. See you next month!

More Coonskin Dreams

Mason's mom just sent this picture. Sweet dreams, Mason! 

Wild Coon Chase

All of the tough boys from Garrett's book club admitted that they each shed a few tears when they reached the end of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. In fact, many said it was the saddest book they had ever read. But, with the tears behind them, the boys were ready to don their coonskin caps and try out their hunting and hounding skills.

First, the boys created labels for tin cans that would serve as banks to hold money they could earn for something they truly wanted, just like Billy used a K.C. Baking Powder can to save $40 over two years to earn money to buy his pups. Zach decided he would save up for a gun, while Garrett decided to save for his own TV.

As they finished their banks, they each got a chance to try their skills at training the book club guest of honor: Garrett's beagle, Lucy. Lucy had a ball as she got as many milkbones as she wanted simply by running around the room a few times. Lucy helped the boys understand that it wasn't as easy as they thought to train a hound dog.

Once all the boys had tried to train Lucy, they learned that a wily reading raccoon who had read Where the Red Fern Grows had created his own coon trail for these beginning coon hunters and their hound to follow. (You can download the clues for the hunt, here.) Luckily, the coon lead them right back to Garrett's house and a treasure of their own gold cups, rock candy, and the book for next month: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.

Since moms wouldn't arrive for another few minutes, Garrett's mom quizzed the boys on Where the Red Fern Grows, giving them a chance to earn old-fashioned candy for each correct answer. The root beer barrels seemed to be the most popular, but Caiden courageously tried the Hoarhound candy and liked it.

Amid all the old-fashioned candy confusion, Garrett's mom forgot to have the boys vote for October's book until one of the boys had already left. The boys who were able to vote, however, chose to read The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett. (If you were not able to vote, please vote at the poll to the side for the book you would like to read for the October meeting.)

All-in-all, however, despite the confusion at the end, the boys seemed to have a great time on their coon hunt and in their temporary roles as boys running around the foothills of the Ozark mountains. Now, all they can do is sleep and hope to dream about more coon hunting adventures. 

(Spencer's mom captured this great picture. Spencer was sound asleep.)

Postponed

Since Garrett's having his own back woods adventure in Yellowstone this week, we are going to postpone July's book club one more week.

Our new Where the Red Fern Grows meeting time will be Thursday, July 22 at 4:30 p.m. at Garrett's house, at which time we'll hunt for coons and do everything else a boy and his dogs loves to do. See you then!

Stranded at a Swimming Pool

Brian Robeson, the protagonist of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet would have been proud of the boys in Garrett's book club. They proved they could survive a crash landing at a lake swimming pool and dive for a lost hatchet.

To keep cool during the 100+ temperatures forecast for this month's book club meeting, the boys converged on Garrett's neighborhood swimming pool to experience Brian's various problems around his lake. Prepared with swimming suits and towels, the boys first tried to spear some fish. In the book, Brian has to learn to aim slightly lower than the waiting fish with his spear in order to catch his dinner. This water refraction challenge was the gathering activity for this month's book club. Using fish cut from sponges with coins inside to weigh them down and fishing line attached, half the boys made the fish swim while the other half tried to spear them using telescoping marshmallow roasting sticks (from the Target dollar section).

While the boys gathered and speared sponge fish (with strict instructions not to spear any feet, toes, or hands), Garrett's mom prepared the ending MRE Beef Stew feast. This way the beef stew could be "cooking" and cooling for the boys to try near the end of the meeting.

After the feast was prepared and set aside, the boys were ready for the next test of their Brian Robeson survival skills. Near the end of the book, Brian decides to try to get a survival kit out of the submerged plane that crash landed, leaving him alone and stranded. During his attempt to cut through the fuselage of the plane, he drops his hatchet into the murky lake. Brian then successfully retrieves his hatchet. For this challenge, the boys dove one at a time to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a sunken hatchet. They had to not only retrieve the hatchet, however, but as many other small items that might help their survival. The boy who retrieved the most items in one dive won.

Once each boy had retrieved the items from the bottom, the boys dried off and gathered around to try some of the foods Brian Robeson ate during his stint at the lake. They devoured the fresh raspberries, but only tentatively tried the freeze-dried beef stew.

After they had finished their feast, the boys put together emergency survival kits. The kits were housed in binder pencil pockets with their names on a hatchet on cardboard showing through the window. The kits contained emergency ponchos, oven bags to hold water, fishing line and a fishing hook, needle and thread, waterproof matches, duct tape, safety pins, hard candy, and gum. Before they placed each item in their kits, the boys had to tell a way that Brian could have used the items to survive. Garrett's mom instructed the boys to keep these kits out of reach of their little brothers and sisters and to only use them if they truly needed something to survive.

After making the survival kits, the boys had the chance to win an actual hatchet by answering the most comprehension questions correctly. The boys had to raise their hands to answer the questions, and if they got a question wrong, they were penalized a point. Because the prize was so coveted, the boys really got into answering the questions and showing their knowledge of the book. In the end, though, Spencer won the hatchet.

Garrett chose Caiden as next month's vice president and the boys voted for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing for August's book.

Crazy Hair and Forced Fun

This month the boys learned all about Albert Einstein when they read Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier. First, they messed up their hair and clothes so they looked more like Einstein and like Garrett's mom who had dressed for the occasion, then they played with the toys Einstein was interested in at their age: They used blocks and playing cards to make towers.

After the boys had made and destroyed several towers, they did some more experiments with the invisible forces Einstein was obsessed with as a boy: Magnets. For each experiment, the boys had to answer one question about Einstein's life. After a few experiments with magnets, the boys opted to play with all the magnetic objects instead of going for a thought walk like Einstein often did.

They then voted for Spencer to be next month's vice president and for Where the Red Fern Grows as their book for July's meeting. After a feast of brain cupcakes, they got their book for next month: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.