Dash & Lily’s Book Of Dares, Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

How are you enjoying the book so far? Is it fun to be reading a holiday title? I really enjoyed reading this week. I just felt so festive--now, if only it were snowing when I was reading. That would really make things feel Christmas-y. 

This book begins in a really interesting way. I really liked that the whole thing started with a fun mystery with Dash running all over the bookstore to solve the clues in the red notebook. Were you intrigued with the descriptions of The Strand bookstore? Did it sound like a place that you would like to visit? If you want some more information about the bookstore, check out their website. Make sure to check out the section where you can buy books by the foot. Isn't that an interesting service? 

What did you think of the fact that Dash was able to finagle things so that he was spending Christmas alone? I thought Dash was a really interesting character--he was  snarly and surly, but he seemed to have a really kind heart deep down. I think he's just had some hard life experiences that have made him more jaded about life. 

Lily, on the other hand, is basically alone this holiday season, but she is not happy about not being with her family. Lily is really different than Dash. She is really close to her family, and she loves everything about Christmas. Did you enjoy reading her chapters more than Dash's chapters? 

Throughout this first section, Dash and Lily go on a bunch of holiday adventures. Which adventure did you think was the most outlandish? I thought that Lily's dares for Dash were a lot harder than his dares for her. I could not believe that she expected him to sit on Santa's lap to get a clue. That part was really weird and creepy. And, I thought it was unfair that she made Dash pay so much money to go into Madame Tussauds in Times Square. That wasn't a cheap and easy little dare! Have you ever been to a Madame Tussauds Museum? It looks like a kind of creepy place. Check out this clip to see more information about some of the exhibits. 

I thought Dash's "Make Your Own Muppet" dare was pretty sweet. Lily got to have a behind the scenes experience at a really cool toy store--that opportunity doesn't come up very often! Unfortunately, the service is no longer available, but it looked like a really cool thing. Check out the video clip below to see a team of reporters create their own Muppet. 

Near the end of this section, we find out that Lily's family might be moving to Fiji permanently. How do you think that information is changing the way Lily views the notebook and Dash ?Is it making her depend more on the notebook and all of the fun and distraction it's providing? 

What do you think is going to happen once Lily and Dash meet? Do you think they will like each other as much in person as they do through the notebook? What other dares and clues do you think they will leave for each other? 

I hope you're enjoying reading along this month. Next week, make sure to read chapters 7-12 before reading the blog post! I hope to hear from you in the comments!