The 35th Reading Maniacs meeting was held at Lori and Sarah's "Bloor's Academy" on Sunday August 3rd 2003 to discuss Midnight for Charlie Bone. Molly was away at camp, the other Molly was in a paddle tennis tournament and Katie was cruising in the Caribbean. Emily and Sarah had stiletto heels and they spray painted their hair purple like Olivia.

There was a huge spread including scones, tarts, chocolate cake, cobbler, cream and lots of cookies. We shared stories of summer and refreshments in the back yard.

Everyone shared their journals or thoughts on the book. It was generally well liked and everyone had read it. The obvious comparisons to Harry Potter were made. Sarah asked several open ended questions that led to lively discussion of good and evil, endowments, friendship, food, and family. We look forward to US release of Time Twister.

We talked about the author and how her experience in boarding school might have influenced this story. We wondered if she already had plots for the other 4 books.

We talked about what we might read next. It was decided to read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and meet at Nancy and Emily's on September 14 at 3:30pm. We will also get together on Sunday October 26 to meet the author of Witch-Craft, Celia Rees at Pages Book Store in Tarzana.

Report prepared by Book Club parent Nancy Z.