House of Stories - A Book Club for Children

The Friends by  Rosa Guy The saying, ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’, goes right about Edith, the only friend of Phyllisia, the lead character in the story The Friends by Rosa Guy. Phyllisia with her snobbish behaviour instead befriended Edith only if she needed her. Edith stood by her when students in the class booed and bullied her. Since then Phyllisia knew, though she hated to be seen with ragamuffin like Edith, she needed her the most. After all Edith is the only friend she has in Harlem. Her bond with Calvin her father is diminishing. She did things to spite him like bunking classes, staying out late with strangers. After her father chased out Edith of the house, Phyllisia did not bother about checking on her even when she heard Edith’s brother Randy had died.  Amidst all chaos she lost her mother, her only solace. Instead of being with her Phyllisia indulged in the diversions of youth, desperately avoiding her guilt feelings for not being there for Edith.

The House on Hummingbird Island      by  Sam Angus Snatched it at the first sight. I pleaded my kid to choose this book instead of Geronimo Stilton from the public library (too much of Stilton in her blood…by reading them of course).The name ‘ The House on Hummingbird Island ’ itself was soothing like chimes in the wind. The book opens to a magical world of Idie Grace, a twelve year old heiress who was transported to Caribbean Islands from the grey old England. You can imagine her surprise at living in a sun-kissed land full of vibrant colours. What waited for her was mysteries in the majestic halls and closed rooms of her inherited mansion, the once home to her parents she never knew. In the land where everybody spoke in whispers and in riddles she did not understand, Austin befriended her and gave her all sorts of exotic pets a lonely child of her age longed for. The adventures and frolic in Idie’s childhood gave way to the complexities of youth. As you read on the stor