Book Club Celebration: Tale of Despereaux

Get your book and start reading. 

Details

Who: your whole family

Where: Fallbrook-First Christian Church---we will begin in Main Hall. 

What: soup making, stained glass windows, games, chefs hats, princess crowns, and group discussions. 

How do we prepare? 

To prepare, you should read (or listen to) the book with your whole family. 

As you read, pay attention to these themes:

• light & darkness, 
• love & forgiveness, 
• bravery

Highlight (or write down) your favorite quotes from the book, especially ones that pertain to these themes. You will choose one quote for your at-home assignment which you will bring with you. 

After you read, you will create an ArtLit Object. What is an ArtLit Object? It is a drawn or painted artistic rendition of an object from the story. You will bring this with you to our celebration and will show it in small groups, explaining it in your group discussion. Here's how to create one: 

1. Choose your object from these options: a book, a sword, a crown, a bowl/pot of soup, OR a stained glass window. 
2. Draw an outline of that object on a piece of white construction paper. Trace your outline in black sharpee marker. 
3. Choose a theme (of the ones listed above) to focus on as you create you ArtLit Object. In large [artistic] letters write the theme somewhere within the black outline of your object. 
4. Choose one quote (or two) that is a good example of the literary theme connected with the object. Use a pencil to write this quote somewhere within the outline on your page. Trace over your penciled quote with something darker so that it is easily visible. Be sure to include the page number where we can find the quote. 
5. Choose one character that wrestles with this theme and draw a sketch of the character within the object outline on your page. Write that character's name. Color the character lightly with colored pencil (or similar); trace the character's name with black sharpee.
6. Choose a scene from the book that shows the theme in use. Draw this scene in colored pencil inside your object outline. 
7. Add flourish! Add small symbols or splashes of color to fill in the extra white space inside your object. 
8. Bring your ArtLit Object with you on the day of the celebration. 

Prepare for discussion circle by taking the time to throughly complete your Art Lit Object. Plan ahead, so that you aren't pressed for time. This allows our young minds to really think carefully about the deeper meaning of  the text. A mind in haste, is unable to ruminate the larger life lessons. You will be sharing these masterpieces in your circles. You can also preview and pre-discuss the discussion questions, here they are: 

Discussion Circle Questions:

1. Share your ArtLit Object with the group. Tell us all about what you  created, what you included in the ArtLit Object, and why you chose these things. 
2. One of the main themes in this story is the existence of both the  light and the darkness. Where are they found? What do they  represent? Who do they influence and how? How are light and dark both found in the same place or character in the book? How do you see light and dark in our world?
3. A second important theme is love/forgiveness. How does Despereaux’s  love for the princess enable him to save her in the end? How does being  able to forgive affect the actions of both Despereaux and the princess? Have you ever had to forgive anyone? What was that like?
4. Another important theme is bravery. How does being brave set  Despereaux apart from the other mice? How does his bravery inform his  actions, that is, give him the reasons for doing the things he does? How  do we see Despereaux grow into his bravery? Who else in the story acts  bravely? Can you think of anyone that you know who has shown or acted with great bravery?

* A note about discussion circles: Authentic discussion is very fluid. We will NOT get to every discussion question listed above. We will use the content of our children's minds and hearts, and their contributions to the discussion, to guide where we go in our discussion time. Every child WILL share their ArtLitObject. 

On the day of our celebration: 

Costumes are welcome--not required--and are a super fun way for the literature to come alive at our celebration. 

We will be separted into groups of 3-5 families. Each group will be responsible for creating a soup to eat, share & submit it for judging in a soup contest. You will be contacted about a week before the event by your soup group leader and will be asked to bring a soup ingredient on the day of the event.

Have fun reading and preparing, Friends!