Huh, who'da thunk??

I admit, I'm a grown-up. I am not the market for which the Journey books are being written. Having said that, my first impression of the program is that it's quite do-able... hence organizing the program for the entire Service Unit. However, that does not mean I don't find fault... well, didn't find fault in some cases... with the girls' books.

Originally I thought the Brownie Quest book had too complicated a story to keep the girls' attention. I also think the first half and the second half are too disjointed. The way it is presented, the first half of the book is for the Brownie to do on her own or with her family while the second half is the Journey that is meant to be done with her troop/group/team.

Similarly, I thought the Junior Agent of Change book's graphic-novel presentation was too out of sync with what the girls would actually like. I also think the story sets up an example for the girls that raises the bar awfully high out of their reach... to expect a few 4th and 5th graders to be able to pull of a pet adoption day and shelter clean-up as a first project is a bit unreasonable (IMO). Expect them to aim high? Absolutely! However, as GS taught previously, a "Smart" goal is attainable with some stretching... not with pulling a miracle out of a hat. ...I digress.

Earlier this week, my daughters (a GS Brownie and a GS Junior) were begging for something "new" to read. They noticed the books lying around since I have been working on the organizing the first session, neither the Daisy nor Brownie group leader can attend, and asked if they could look at them. They both liked the books when they first came out and the girls first looked at them... but after the first half-hour to forty-five minutes, the books were set aside like Christmas/birthday presents. The Brownie realized her book contained a story first... causing a slight tinge of jealousy in the Junior until I pointed out the graphic novel in her own book. I didn't see the books again for two days!

I've been chatting with the girls over the past day and a half, and it turns out that both girls really liked the stories. The Brownie told me excitedly that she wanted to read the second part of the book with me to find out what happens next to Campbell, Alejandra ("Al" as my daughter calls her), and Jamila. She was so disappointed when I explained that the second half wasn't a story... she brightened a little when I explained that the Join the Journey program was going to go through the second half of the book. She is completely intrigued by the map, and after she summarized the first half chapter-by-chapter for me, we picture walked through the rest of the book and figured out how the activities matched up with the map. It is her not-so-humble opinion that the Brownies and Daisies should start out tomorrow with scavenger hunt, looking for "vlalues... whatever they are." So, it's clear that she's intrigued... and she's willing to figure out what this "vlalues" word means (yes, she does actually say it that way, it's not a typo).

The Junior has decided that she wants to read more graphic novels (Yay, for literacy!). After reading it, she said it gave her a "better" idea for her Bronze Award project. She had been talking about holding an event for GS Brownies and Daisies where they would make Happy Socks for cats and Spread the Bread dog biscuits for dogs in a local animal shelter. Now she's thinking she can organize a shelter clean-up and adoption day. She's so used to being the outsider in a troop - for the 3 years we've been in this school district, she has been a member of 3 different troops because her grade level's troop was full, and the one that took her mid-year Flew Up to Juniors a year before her, leaving her to join a troop that didn't bridge until a year after her; this year she had another Junior in the troop, but that one didn't come all that often, so she was often the only Junior with a bunch of Brownies. Because of her experiences, she automatically thinks of project management as an individual thing rather than as a group effort... she often bites off more than she can chew, so the Journey Take Action Project should help her take on something more manageable with the help of her peers. Last night she asked if she could do the word search in the book... for a kid that finds word searches extremely difficult, this request was definite progress.

Color me amazed that the girls have taken to the books as they have... hopefully the other participating girls will, too.