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

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Review: Fowl Play

  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...

Review: Kareem Between

  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...