Jennie hosted a Birthday literary luncheon honoring Ms. Marilyn and Ms. Vernita (the mothers of Karen and Jennie) at her home on November 3rd, and selected L.Y. Marlow's debut novel, Color Me Butterfly.
The tables were set with personalized hand painted water goblets "placecards" with butterflies and grass and U.S. G.I.R.L.S. Literary Luncheon, 2007 painted on the base. Each place setting had a sterling silver book mark with swarovski crystals and a gospel CD from recording artist, Celestial.
The meeting began with a prayer and the introduction of U.S. G.I.R.L.S. founding members. We were all excited to see Valerie because she'd recently given birth to her daughter; and this was our first time seeing her since the baby was born. Jennie asked Karen to elaborate on how she came up with the name of our book club. Karen indicated that she was really trying to think of a name, and she said to herself, "I'ts just us..." and the rest is history!!
Once the first course (tomato bisque) was served, we began with a game that asked each guest to name their favorite book and author. Jennie then asked each guest to "rate" Color Me Butterfly from 1-10...Although most guest rated 8-10; there was one, who rated it a "1"..."Wow." After everyone "perused" the buffet; the discussion got underway. There were many views on how abusive relationships can continue for many generations, creating a "cycle." We also explored the cycle of teen pregnancy that occurred but was not addressed as an issue by the author.
At 1:00 p.m. EST (35 minutes into the discussion), unbeknownst to the guest, Jennie had arranged for the author, L.Y. Marlow to call in to participate in a Q & A. When the phone rang, Jennie pretended as if a guest that could not attend was calling in to participate via speaker phone. She said..."Caller are you there?" Response was "Yes" Jennie then asked for the caller to identify herself; and when she said, "this is L.Y. Marlow, author of "Color Me Butterfly" the room erupted into gasps, oooohs, and ahhhhhs!! she then continued to say that I also have my mother , Mattie, (another round of gasps); my daughter, Treasure (yet another round) and Treasure now has a daughter, Promise (a round of ahhhhhs); who is here as well.
L.Y. Marlow told us how the book came to be, and opened up for questions for her and her family. Low and behold, who was the first person to ask a question? The very guest that rated the book a "1" She was so amazed that she immediately changed her rating to a "10" L.Y. was humbled by the invitation and told us that she really wanted to tell her story on Oprah...and asked for our support by writing a review of her work. All agreed that the event was a success.
To quote Valerie..."This meeting took book clubs to a whole new level!!"