Our First Blog

Hello! We are The 3 Belles, in honor of our love of books like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We are a mom, "Liberty" Belle, and two daughters: a 12-yr-old, 6th grader, "Taco" Belle and a 7-yr-old, 1st grader,"Tinker" Belle. Liberty Belle, is ahem, over 21 (Liberty's own mother used to use the ole' "over 21" when asked her age).

We thought we would share what books we are reading and what we think about them. We would love to hear from other kids, parents, librarians, authors, etc. and get recommendations on good reads. We also thought authors might like to know what real kids and parents think about books. We like picture books, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, magazines, whatever we feel like. We read together and separately. (Tinker doesn't read young adult)!


Taco and Liberty belong to a Mother-Daughter Book Club for 4th to 6th graders run by our wonderful public library. We just gathered to discuss Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli last night.

Taco: I liked Stargirl because it is really funny and middle school kids can relate to the narrator's situation. I loved when Stargirl sang Happy Birthday to everyone and when she was on the "Hot Seat." Did you know, (according to one person in our book club) Jerry Spinelli based the Stargirl character, in part, on his wife?
Taco's Favorite lines: "When she came by our table, I got my first good look at her face. She wasn't gorgeous, wasn't ugly. A sprinkle of freckles crossed the bridge of her nose. Mostly, she looked like a hundred other girls in school, except for two things. She wore no makeup, and her eyes were the biggest I had ever seen, like deer's eyes caught in the headlights. She twirled as she went past, her flaring skirt brushing my pant leg, and then she marched out of the lunchroom."

Liberty: I loved this book! The moms in our book club gave Stargirl a 4 out of 4 stars, the girls gave it 3 1/2.
Favorite Lines: "And each night in bed I thought of her as the moon came through me window. I could have lowered my shade to make it darker and easier to sleep, but I never did. In that moonlit hour, I acquired a sense of the otherness of things. I liked the feeling the moonlight gave me, as if it wasn't the opposite of day, but its underside, its private side, when the fabulous purred on my snow-white sheet like some dark cat come in from the desert."


Tinker: Today I read The Surprise Family written and illustrated by Lynn Reiser. It was a "surprising" book because the chicks turned out to be ducklings. The author's name is Lynn like my teacher.
Favorite Sentence: "But every afternoon in the garden beside the pond, after walking and swimming and wading, there they all were, together, under the little hen's wings.

Liberty: The Surprise Family was a kind of twist on The Ugly Duckling. As a mom, I liked the message that a family can be made up of all kinds - a boy, a hen, ducklings - caring about each other and spending time together.

It's getting late - more tomorrow night!