Thanks to reader Amber A. for writing in about successful activities in her mother-daughter book club. Talking about the book and socializing are always a big part of book club meetings, but other activities can add a whole new level of fun. Here are the books Amber’s group read and the creative ideas they came up with for their meetings:

Half Magic by Edward Eager
Each girl put on a magic show for the group. You can find easy magic tricks on the web. Then, I taught them to play a card game, Doubt It.  They had a lot of fun with this and got a little rowdy. Best to do at the very end. For snacks we had Celery Soda (you can find this on the web) and Hot Fudge Dope (ice cream sundae).

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton
I ordered some shark teeth on the Internet that was set for making a necklace. After our discussion, we all made necklaces. I also had a replica (got from the same place) of an adult shark tooth. We live in Huntington Beach, California, so I was going to take a field trip to the surfing museum in town. Bethany Hamilton also has a website with a recipe for a specific smoothie. I also thought about having the girls make that. However, we ended up just going with the necklaces.

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
A version of the Newlywed Game, where the mother and daughter answer questions about each other.
An obstacle course, where the mom is blind folded and the daughter must give the mom directions but cannot touch her. We just used our yard and put chairs and tables in the way so the mom had to maneuver around them. Then we switched—mother directed the daughter.