Spring-Forward, Fall-Back
Book Club:
Timeless Reading for Middle Schoolers & Parents
Call It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry
When:
Wednesday, November 19
5:00-6:00 pm—Book Discussion
6:00-7:00 pm—Dinner in the St. John’s
dining hall
Where:
St. John’s College, Annapolis,
McDowell Hall, Room 14
RSVP: Cynthia Barry ([email protected])
$5.00 per book + 9.88 per dinner
Parking (free) in Garage on Calvert Street or on street.
McDowell is the big, brick, central building on campus (once Civil War hospital)
October 27, 2014
Dear St. Martin’s Middle School Parents,
We’re going to have a Book Club! We’re calling it the Spring-Forward, Fall-Back Book Club: Timeless Reading for
Middle Schoolers & Parents. For our inaugural reading, we’ll read Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. We’ll meet at
St. John’s College in Annapolis in a seminar room (#14) in McDowell Hall, the most historic building on campus.
Afterwards we’ll go over to the Randall Dining Hall for dinner. The date is Wednesday, November 19, seminar at 5:00,
dinner at 6:00 ish. Please see the attached flyer and the permission slip below.
I thought it would be fun to have our book club seminar on a college campus. Our middle schoolers will get a sense of
college life—and a taste of college food! I also thought parents would enjoy this, so we’re making our book club
intergenerational. The idea is that parents and children read a book together and then gather around the seminar table to
ask questions and talk about it, just like people do in college. Our youngsters will get a look forward, and their parents
will get a look back. Should be interesting! I’ll guide the discussion.
You may remember reading Call It Courage. Reading it was once a rite of passage. It’s a Newbery Award winner,
published in 1940. It’s not a long book. It’s the story of Mafatu, a ten-year-old boy whose name means Stout Heart, but
his island people call him a coward because he is afraid of the sea. One day he paddles out alone in his canoe to conquer
his fear.
Below is a permission slip. Please fill it in and send it to me in the Library or email a copy back to me
([email protected]). A parent can take his or her child and a couple of friends. The room holds 20-25 people. I’d
love it if we had a mix of 5th through 8th graders, moms and dads, and a couple of teachers. I have 20 copies available for
purchase in the Library. Space is limited, so please RSVP!
Sincerely,
Cynthia Barry
Librarian and Special Projects Director, St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School
Spring-Forward, Fall-Back Book Club
I,______________________________________, give permission for my child(ren)
___________________________________________ to attend the St. Martin’s Book Club and Dinner at St.
John’s College, Annapolis, on Wednesday, November 19, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
____ I will also attend.
____ My child(ren) will drive with _________________________________________________
____ I enclose $5.00 per book and would like __________________books.
Dinner per person is $9.88. (Make checks payable to Cynthia Barry.)