“In the end, I wanted a daughter that would be my best friend....” Shireen Dodson, C-Span...1998
There are two other authors who have written books on Mother Daughter Book Clubs. The first was The Mother Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughter Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn Through Their Love of Reading. This was published by Shireen Dodson in 1997 (the year my daughter was born) and was followed the following year by 100 Books for Girls to Grow On. The internet was in its “infancy” so Shireen never developed a website. She is currently on the staff of the International Multicultural Institute. My impression is that she had very short lived (and limited?) popularity. However, I owe her a great deal as she “planted the seed” for me. I recently found a C-Span video of a talk she gave in 1998. I will use it in a post in the next week or two. (Actually, I am thinking of dividing it into “clips” to extend its use.) Further, it is about 15 minutes and I don’t believe that anyone would listen for that amount of time.
The next person that came along was Cindy Hudson who published the book, Book by Book, The Complete Guide to Creating Mother Daughter Book Clubs in 2009. She began her website in 2007.http://motherdaughterbookclub.com/ which largely reviews books, offers interviews by authors, parenting resources, the sale of her book and other “guides” she has written for use by Mother Daughter Book Clubs. This site has a very “old-fashioned” look. The only visuals are some photographs of her and photographs of book covers. There are two sentences in different parts of the page informing the reader that she has a twitter and facebook link. (I notice on the Facebook page that she is talking about multi-cultural books....a focus of mine too those my recommendations are better!) The Twitter account seems to (at least recently) be notices of book reviews.
The other competitor is more recent and has come far in terms of website development and a social media presence. She wrote the book, Her Next Chapter which was released in 2014. http://www.motherdaughterbookclubs.com/Just prior to the release last summer, she “found” me on the Internet. Her book and associated social media focuses as much if not more on “media literacy...” the portrayal of girls and teens in the media. Her website has drawn figures which are not very visually inspiring or exciting. It has almost a “cartoon” appearance. On her Facebook page the “permanent” visuals are to me, very poor. The banner photograph has a picture of her and her daughter book looking away and sitting far apart. The daughter is looking away with a strange “smirk” on her face...I watched the video and it shows her speaking in front of a very small group with empty chairs and her daughter also looks disinterested. One of the main benefits of a Mother Daughter Book Club is that it strengthens the bond between mothers and daughters. Her visuals give the opposite impression. Her likes, however have grown to 3, 446 in about one year and a half. Her website directs you to all of her social media. Her Pinterest has 5 boards that are book recommendations in different categories and “Girl Power” advertising. Many of her “tweets” also relate to portrayal of girls and young women in the media. She is also on LinkedIn. Her strongest visuals are on Facebook and Pinterest.
Originally, I felt a bit upset that these women “beat me” to the market. However, I now see their presence (especially Lori Day) as affirmation of my ideas. Even Cindy Hudson’s mention of multi-cultural books means I’m on the “right” track.
The above represents both opportunity and examples I can learn from.
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