Back to book club with this cracker of a book – When Life Gives You Mangoes
Mangoes – the blurb
A summer she can’t remember
A friendship she won’t forget
Nothing much happens in Sycamore, the small village where Clara lives – at least, that’s how it seems. She loves eating ripe mangoes fallen from trees, running outside in the rainy season and escaping to her secret hideout with her best friend Gaynah. There’s only one problem: she can’t remember anything about the previous summer.
When a quirky girl called Rudy arrives from England, everything starts to change. Gaynah stops acting like a best friend, while Rudy and Clara roam across the island and uncover an old family secret. As the summer reaches its peak and the island storms begin, Clara’s memory starts to return and she must finally face the truth of what happened last year.
Take me back to the start
Oooh this is a blinder of a book for book club isn’t it! It’s the kind you get to the end and want to head right back to the start to re-read it again. Which is fine as it only took me a day to read. It reminded me very much of We Were Liars but in a more gentile, middle grade kind of way as opposed to angst ridden Y/A. On top of that the book’s setting is a fab one with excellent starting points for further research. But you don’t want to be doing that, you want to be watching your friend as they read the big reveal and see their mouth fall to the floor. Then hold their hand and comfort them before racing through previous pages to re-read ‘the bit where she’ and ‘that part where’. Overall awesome book.
Book club questions
+++ These questions contain spoilers and should only be used if you have read the book already!+++
- Which Island was the book set? Can you find it on a map? How important to the plot was the setting?
- Can you play your own game of Pick Leaf. Which trees do you have near you and which leaves can you identify?
- Clara often mentions how her Island was once owned by the British. Can you find out anything more about this? When did Britain own it? For how long?
- How did you feel when you read about Gaynah? Did you want to go back and read the book again?
- Do you think Clara is healed now? Will she be able to move on and be happy now that she has faced her past?
If you would like to join in with our Children’s Book of the Month keep your eyes peeled when we announce February’s book in a few days time. Our review with book club questions is usually posted on the last Monday of the month and you can check out previous Book of the Months such as Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm by clicking on the Young Adult/Kids button at the top of our Home Page. In the meantime we would love to see what you have been reading.
