April Girls Read/Guys Read

Did you know that we have two parent/child book clubs every month at the Provo City Library? They are for children ages 9-12 and a caregiver. This month, they will meet April 23 (girls) and April 25 (guys). These will be the last book club events until fall, so be sure to preregister under the Kids Corner/Program Registration tab on the library website. We have two great books to discuss this month:

Girls Read

Beauty

by Robin McKinley

Harper & Row, 1978. Fiction. 247 p.

Beauty is a retelling of the classic story of Beauty and the beast. In this version, kind Beauty (who does not think she is actually beautiful compared to her sisters) leaves her family behind when her father returns home with a stolen rose and a threat from the Beast who he stole from - his life in exchange for the rose. Beauty, determined to be brave and save her father's life, chooses to live in the enchanted castle and hopefully tame the Beast. This is a fairy tale retelling so beloved and so classic that it is almost canon in its own right. The fairy tale is mostly represented accurately, but the characters come to life in such unique new ways - this is a romance for the ages.

Guys Read

Last Day on Mars

By Kevin Emerson

Walden Pond Press. 2017. Fiction. 325 p.

Liam has spent his entire life on the planet Mars. It is Earth year 2213 and the Sun has began to go supernova, sending Earth's population to Mars in retreat while they build the necessary spaceships to travel to a planet many light years away. With less than 24 hours until Mars will meet the same end as Earth, Liam and his sister Phoebe are the last kids on the planet as their parents put the finishing touches on one last project. As they are saying goodbye to their home, Phoebe and Liam make a surprising discovery - unbeknownst to humans, there is extraterrestrial life after all.

Comments

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

J Fiction 328 pages I almost didn't finish this book. I got to Chapter 4, and was just about ready to quit (a kind of slow story about a girl, name of Piper McCloud, who discovers she can fly, parents freak out, she becomes a social outcast, yadda, yadda) but suddenly, right there in Chapter 4, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes really interesting . Piper finds herself in the company of others like her, but not "fliers", and under the care and authority of Dr. Hellion. I won't even tell you any more. Read this book. Forester does a great job of keeping you wondering who's the good guy and who's the bad? Piper is a likeable, strong, endearing character that girl readers will enjoy. But don't NOT give it to boys! The main male character is an extremely intelligent young man who is one of the ones you wonder about . . . good or bad? This is a good one, well worth your time.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

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