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

Painting for Peace in Ferguson

Painting for Peace in Ferguson By Carol Swartout Klein Treehouse Publishing Group, 2015. Nonfiction. When the city of Ferguson was overrun with so much hate and despair that homes and businesses had to be boarded up to protect property, citizens of the community decided to bring a message of hope by painting the boarded windows. Klein’s rhyming text supports the photographs of the hundreds of artists and volunteers and their artwork as they bring the messages of peace, hope, love, and that by being united they can make a difference. A great book to show children how a community rallied to make a positive change and that even a small gesture can make a huge difference. A great discussion opener on how we should treat each other.

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...

Dragon Run

Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013. 336 pgs. Fantasy Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life. He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines. Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...

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