With mother's day just around the corner it seems like a good time to talk about something that's come on to my radar recently - mother-daughter book clubs. It's not something my mother and I ever did, although once I reached a certain age her boxes of Harlequin novels became fair-game for me to raid when I ran out of my own books (for a teenage girl this was fantastic until one day I realized my grandmother also read them). But it's something I think is a really neat idea, and not just because it's a good excuse to read young adult literature.

Some reading to get you started on mother-daughter book clubs is a a non-fiction book, The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn Through Their Love of Reading by Shireen Dodson, which was the inspiration for Dreamreeds' club. The Book Babes Club was another group that started after someone read this book and they mentioned one of the reasons why I think mother-daughter book clubs are fantastic.

Then my friend explained that the real value of the book club was the opportunity to discuss issues affecting our maturing daughters in a non confrontational setting. At a Mother-Daughter Book Club you get to talk about the taboo subjects that usually set girls screaming in horror - personal hygiene, puberty, dating, etc. I was hooked, and with Dodson's how-to manual, I was armed with everything I needed to get started.

There are a lot of topics that we really didn't want to talk to our mothers about because well, it was just plain awkward. But being able to broach those subjects under the guise of talking about a specific character or event in a book with other mothers and girls? Priceless. It's also a great opportunity to teach kids about big issues. Booking Mama's Mother-Daughter Club recently tackled a difficult subject when they read Life in Hiding: Anne Frank by Johanna Hurwitz.

A few days ago, one of the moms called me to warn me that the first chapter covered a lot of information on Hitler and the persecution of the Jewish people. I kind of figured that the book would have to mention this information as background, but I guess I wasn't prepared for the amount and type of questions that our 8 year old daughters would ask. I was very proud of my daughter for asking these questions and wanting to understand what happened, but I have to admit that I found it very difficult to explain this horrific part of history to a child -- I hope I did it justice.

There's also novel about a mother-daughter book club for young readers by Heather Vogel Frederick called, well, The Mother Daughter Book Club. It's about a group of mothers who decide to start a mother-daughter book club in which they read Little Women (the unabridged version I suspect...) over the course of a year. Stiletto Storytime likes both this book and Bronte's Book Club by Kristiana Gregory as reads for both adults and kids.

What a great way to get kids into not only a modern fiction title but also a classic as well. Both these books also happen to be big on the girl power which is always a plus and both of the authors are also well known for children’s series.

A good online resource for these clubs is the Mother-Daughter Book Club blog. In addition to providing lists of age appropriate books it also has recipes and book club spotlights.

If book clubs aren't your, or your teenage daughter's, thing, how about a mother-daughter book blog? That's what Christine of The Happily Ever After did recently with her thirteen year old daughter. They posted their first review on their joint blog, Bookalicious last month.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.