Skip to main content

FebruaryGirls/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 February 25 (girls) and February 27 (guys). Preregister under the Kids Corner/Program Registration tab on the library website. We have two great books to discuss this month:

Girls

Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014. Verse.

As a child, Jacqueline Woodson never felt settled at home. In the 1960s and 1970s she lived in South Carolina and New York, in the midst of the Civil Rights movement and with the dark shadow of Jim Crow era laws looming overhead. As she searches to find herself, Jacqueline finds her voice as a writer and she begins to tell stories that will shape her future. Told entirely in verse, this memoir is a touching and thoughtful story about growing up and finding your way. A National Book Award Winner, Newbery Honoree, and Coretta Scott King Award winner, this unique book of poetry reveals Jacqueline Woodson's passion for storytelling by telling her own story.


Guys
By Michael Morpurgo
New York: Scholastic, 2007. Historical fiction.

In 1914, in the midst of World War I, Joey, the horse, is sold to the British army and sent to the Western Front. As he struggles to survive the war, Joey longs to return to the farm where he was raised and the boy, Albert, who loves him. This unique look at the tragedies of World War I is narrated by Joey, a farmhorse who leads a cavalry charge, is taken as a prisoner of war, pulls gun carriages for the Germans, and so much more. Joey's courage and determination to return home acts as a beacon to the human soldiers on the front with him and his hope for a return to home is deeply heartfelt. This emotionally effective war novel, made famous as a play and movie, is also on the 2019-2020 Battle of the Books list.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

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...