Books: Children's literature book club

I've always loved children's books; my "junk food" books, which I feel is actually healthier to read rather than watching a movie or TV show. I recently read "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. In one chapter she talked about starting a book club for like-minded people who loved children's literature. This was such a great idea and  I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one out there.

So I started a book club with some friends, which also includes a potluck dinner (we try to have something in the meal that is from the book; as inspired by Gretchen Rubin). Here are the books that we've read so far, with some of the links that I found useful for our discussions: 

• October: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky  We had mixed emotions in the group about this one. Some thought it was unrealistic, depressing, and hard to relate to. I personally found it disturbing in some ways, but also felt that it has important messages that needs to be out there; particularly for teenage boys. Definitely more of a young-adult novel. Here are some good questions for the discussion.
• November: "Fantastic Mr Fox" by Roald Dahl. We had a great discussion about the role of the (limited) female characters and the violent nature of the book (would something like this be published today?). It was interesting to compare viewpoints of readers; particularly those who have children and those that don't; who felt comfortable reading this to their kids? Here are some questions to start the discussion and here is an article about Roald Dahl that I found interesting. 
• December: "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeline L'Engle. This was a book that about half of the group had read as children, so it was interesting to see how their opinions of the book had changed in that time. Many were shocked by the religious undertones; and L'Engle actually had a hard time pitching the book to publishers for that same reason. Here are some questions to start the discussion. 
• January: "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" by Robert O'Brien. Here is some information about the book and O'Brien, which is the pen-name for Robert Conly. This was my favorite book so far. It was interesting and full of intrigue, while not anywhere as frightening as the cartoon based on the book. I really liked that the book has realistic elements, which are wonderful lessons for kids (particularly that bad things can happen to good people, but that you can move beyond to a good place). Highly recommended.