In August both book clubs read Edison’s Gold by Geoff Watson. I must admit that I was more excited to use this book for a book club event than I have been for any other recent books. The possibilities are endless with this story because it has everything: action, adventure, history, mystery, math, friendships, family, and more.
We started out by summarizing and discussing the story. Talking about which characters were real historical ones and which were fictional made for a neat addition to our discussion.
Since the story opened with a really neat car race, I asked each child to bring a car of their own design to our club event. These girls used a variety – paper, cups, Tinker Toys, and K’Nex. We raced them down a tilted table in a variety of heats and discussed why the winning car won and what could be done to improve their speed.
Since the story was all about Tommy Edison, Thomas Edison’s great-great grandson, and his many inventions, the girls split up into groups to invent something that would solve a problem. I’m a big fan of this group’s invention: a machine that would match and dry socks.
Secret codes are important to this story, and Morse code plays a large role. The girls grouped up again, this time to transmit a message to the other group. These two decided to blink their message just like the men in the book did, while the other preferred to write out their dots and dashes. It was fun to see all of the girls hard at work decoding their messages!
What else can you do with this story? There’s lots more. Come back next week for more Edison’s Gold fun!
What are your kids reading right now?
Shared at: Embark on the Journey
What fun club activities and ideas.
Thank you! I think that bringing books to life is one way to help create lifelong readers – and thus lifelong learners.