The Green Ember Book Club ~ A Party School About Rabbits

Stained glass art, emerald jewels, star seeks, storytelling, & a hike made up the latest book club about rabbits who climb trees & fight with swords. #ihsnet #bravewriterlifestyle @SDSmith_ Click To Tweet

The Green Ember Book Club

Our latest book club was about the fabulous adventure story, The Green Ember. It was unanimous. The girls all loved this month’s book.

This series of books is reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia, but with a distinct difference. The characters are all rabbits. The story begins in the innocent land of Nick Hollow and follows a pair of siblings, Heather and Picket, on their journey to find the truth about their home and themselves.

The Green Ember Book Club Hike

We began our journey in Nick Hollow (our local park) and hiked through the Great Woods. We were prepared for rain and nature. The girls grabbed their ponchos and a bottle of water and headed out into the wilderness. Some liked nature a little less than others as was evidenced by the squeals of terror and disgust at anything that wiggled or appeared previously eaten.

Some of the girls even found a tree or two to climb, though they didn’t jump quite as well through the branches as Heather.

We came across Ember Falls on our hike. The waterfall was beautiful, so we stopped to catch our breath before continuing our journey.

Once we arrived at Jupiter’s Crossing, the girls discovered green embers in one of the trees. We strung them and made each book club member a bracelet to take home.

The Green Ember Book Club Discussion and Lunch

Normally I like to plan a party school with lots of food with fun puns and references to our book. But, since this book club was at our local park, I couldn’t go to my usual extremes. However, food is an important part of the book, especially comfort food. So before we left for the park, I baked some individual pot pies and put them in the cooler to stay warm. These were perfect for our book club discussion.

The Green Ember Book Club Activities

“Stained Glass Art”

In the book, the stained glass art tells the story of the former king, King Jupiter. For one of our activities, the girls made “faux stained art.” We started with black glass picture frames. After removing the backs, I put the hangers back on the glass so the girls could hang them later. Each girl had QTips, toothpicks, glitter glue, and colored Sharpies to use to create their art.

Some of the girls worked on Mosaic designs, while others decided on quotes. The paint and Sharpies easily wiped off the glass in case of mistakes (or the perfectionist’s redo of her art for the 5th time). We found that Sharpies made the glass look the most like stained glass and the glitter glue added some fun. This craft was inspired by Smart School House.

“Story Telling”

Heather, one of the starring rabbits in the book, was a storyteller. We decided to become storytellers, too. We started with a game of “Fortunately, Unfortunately” to break the ice. This is a great game, that is one of the Brave Writer Daily Tips.

For our storytelling activity, I handed out Story Prompts and told the girls to choose one and begin writing a story to go with their prompt. There was one catch. They couldn’t finish the story. In fact, they should try to leave the story with a cliffhanger. The plan, which was shared by a mom in our Brave Writer Lifestyle Group, was to take up the stories, type them up and return them to a new girl at the next book club. This “new author” will then write another paragraph and return the story to me. By the time we are finished writing the stories, all the girls will be one of several authors for each story.

One of the most interesting things about Book Club is that the child who refuses to write a sentence at home will write a mini-novel if she’s with her friends. Ah, the power of peer pressure.

“Star Seek” – The Game

Heather and Picket create their own game, Star Seek. Following suit, we made our own star seeks and then practiced throwing them in the field.

We even had a contest to determine who had the best throwing style as well as technique. The winner won bragging rights.

The Green Ember is a book about courage, friendship, honor, and fighting for what is just and noble. As a true, noble rabbit would say,

My place beside you, my blood for yours. Till the Green Ember rises or the end of the world!

Have you read any of the books in this series? What are your kids’ favorite adventure stories? Subscribe below to follow along on our book club adventures.