King Oberon's Forest: A Book Club Post

Ramona and I just read King Oberon's Forest for her book club. It's Hilda van Stockum, so I was pretty sure we would love it and we did.

It's quite different (a fairy tale!) from her usual fare but we found it sweetly delightful in an old-fashioned, but still van Stockum-y realistic way. We love the variety of characters in a book like this -- the grumpy ones, the realism of souls who are imperfect but manage to grow.

I don't want to give too much away, but it's the story of three isolated, self-absorbed dwarves who live in King Oberon's Forest and are changed by the people and events (and fairies) in their lives. Full of humor and warmth, with lovely illustrations by van Stockum's daughter, Brigid Marlin.

For book club discussions we've sometimes had just a snack, other times a lunch (with my personal favorite being our Prairie Thief luncheon.) This one was a full lunch, with dishes inspired by the book:

Mac and cheese
Pumpkin bread
Apples and dip
Nuts
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Cucumbers and carrots
Popcorn (which also provided the popcorn necklace stringing activity)
Cream puffs
Apple juice

Yum.

Next up in book club: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois and down the road we'll read The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop. And thanks again to everyone who threw in suggestions (here at the blog and on Facebook) for this year. The TBR list is endless, and I love that. :)