Book Group Choices

I don't know about anyone else - but I find that I am constantly looking for books that will be great to discuss with my various book groups.  I find myself getting frustrated when I read a few books in row that just wouldn't work for that purpose.  I thought that I would try to get the ball rolling on a discussion of books that have worked well for book groups - discussion tested!  I do a group for middle schoolers (with the school librarian at the school - so have to be on the tamer side), a group for 7th - 9th grade girls & moms, and I am just now launching one for high schoolers.  If anyone is interested in sharing some books that have worked, and the ages you think they work for -- I, for one, would really be quite thankful!  If you are interested in what books have worked for me so far, I would be more than happy to share!

Amy, BRI

Comments

[Michele Capozzella]

Hi Amy,
For the past 9 years I have been running mother/daughter and father/son (now parent/child) book discussion groups at Chappaqua Library. They are for 5-8 grades. Here is a list of books that went over really well:
Bigger by Patricia Calvert
Running Out of Time/Among the Hidden by M.P. Haddix
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
Fever 1793 by L.H. Anderson
Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
Donuthead by Sue Stauffacher
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Some Kind of Pride by Maria Testa
Money to Burn by E.M Goldman
The Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
Ghost Boy by Iain Lawrence
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I will be discussing The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and Goose Girl by Shannon Hale in upcoming groups. I hope this helps.
Michele

[Erin]

My book group is for 6th,7th, and 8th graders. It's only one year old, but here's what we've done:

-Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
-Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
-Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
-Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
-The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
-The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
-Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
-The Divide by Elizabeth Kay
-Capt. Hook by J.V. Hart
-The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Richard Yancey
-Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton

I have book discussion questions & supplemental material for all of them, if you're interested. I try to devote half of the meeting time to discussion and the other half to suuplemental material. For example, we watched a segment of "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You," a Twilight Zone episode, and compared it to "Uglies." (Similar plots.)

[Amy]

How did boys feel about reading Princess Academy and Goose Girl? I have read Princess Academy and really liked it...but though it would turn boys off before even opening it up!

[Erin]

Up until the Fall, my group was all girls, so I was able to get away with the double dose of Shannon Hale. It was a special request last spring that I indulged.
From now on, we will only read gender neutral. (The Rick Yancey book leans towards boys.)
I've gotten huge thumbs ups with The Lightning Thief, Uglies, and Down the Rabbit Hole.

(I had two boys join my group, no b/c of the book selections, but b/c they heard there's good food!)

[Pat Humphreys]

I just started working as a YA librarian (/ref/other) this past summer and started a YA book group with a children's room staff member this fall for grades 6-8 for boys and girls. So far, have 2 boys & 2 girls & did the following:
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime by Haddon
Lyddie by Paterson (that was tough going)
Flush by Hiaasen
Plan to do:
The Giver by Lowry
Was planning to do:
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Johnson
But am giving the kids a chance to come up with something else.
The kids have suggested:
Elsewhere
Fever 1793
among others

The kids are slowly getting to know us & each other. It no longer feels like pulling teeth. I do try to get them to tell me about books they have read and ask them for suggestions. One boy keeps talking about Angels & Demons. We try to let the kids talk about other things - like movies and distribute a little game sheet for them to take home. Has Sudoku, riddles & word games. I actually try a riddle on them once & a while - I ususally get funny looks. I keep trying to think of things that will keep them interested, besides the books (& munchies).

There's one more thing - I mentioned Harry Potter toward the end of our last meeting and the discussion took off like a firecracker. They are really looking forward to the next book & I keep wondering how to use that in 2007 for a good program. Movies, big gathering (hoping) for ideas for book 7, games (?what?), other (??).
I think that enough & look forward to ideas.

Pat H.

[Erin/ BRO]

"Endymion Spring" is being hailed as "The Da Vinci Code" for kids. We're reading it in December for our book group.
The Dan Brown fan may take an interest in it.

[Erin/ BRO]

"Endymion Spring" is being hailed as "The Da Vinci Code" for kids. We're reading it in December for our book group.
The Dan Brown fan may take an interest in it.

[Erin]

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

The first page is electrifying. Bobby, 15, looks at himself in the bathroom mirror and there's nobody there. No, he isn't blind. He can see. He can feel his body. But he's invisible. This is sci-fi just on the edge of reality. Readers will easily be able to imagine what it must be like to have the world disappear.

Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

A Time Tornado drops ancient horsemen and chariots into present-day London and causes a busload of school children to disappear into thin air. A mysterious, self-proclaimed scientist secretly seeks to profit from this event and other disturbances so that she can harvest spare time and sell it through her company. Meanwhile, a sinister alchemist seeks a clock known as the Timekeeper in order to become even more powerful than Mason. At the center of this struggle is an orphan named Silver and her 500-year-old house, Tanglewreck, where she lives with her aunt as the prophesied Keeper of the Clock. She embarks on a prophecy-fulfilling interstellar journey to locate the Timekeeper and guarantee the safety of time as we know it. Winterson masterfully weaves together an imaginative array of settings and characters to bring the story to its exhilarating fulfillment. Silver's varied relationships add even more depth, encapsulating family, friendship, deceit, and abuse.

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

Twelve-year-old Mosca Mye hasn't got much. Her cruel uncle keeps her locked up in his mill, and her only friend is her pet goose, Saracen, who'll bite anything that crosses his path. But she does have one small, rare thing: the ability to read. She doesn't know it yet, but in a world where books are dangerous things, this gift will change her life. Enter Eponymous Clent, a smooth-talking con man who seems to love words nearly as much as Mosca herself. Soon Mosca and Clent are living a life of deceit and danger -- discovering secret societies, following shady characters onto floating coffeehouses, and entangling themselves with crazed dukes and double-crossing racketeers. It would be exactly the kind of tale Mosca has always longed to take part in, until she learns that her one true love -- words -- may be the death of her. Fly by Night is astonishingly original, a grand feat of the imagination from a masterful new storyteller.

Walking with the Dead by L.M Falcone

Alex's father brings home a perfectly preserved ancient Greek corpse as an exhibit for Oddities, the weird museum in their basement. After Alex peeks in the coffin, he starts having crazy dreams, gets struck by lightning and falls through a door into the night sky. Then things take a turn for the seriously weird when, after more than 2000 years, the corpse wakes up! This lively cadaver needs help, so big-hearted Alex and his sidekick, Freddie, find themselves on a mission to the world of the dead. They dodge monsters, three-headed dogs, gorgons with snakes for hair -- and much worse -- all in an attempt to help a lost soul in serious trouble. How in Hades will the boys ever get home again?

Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Phillip Reeve

Arthur (Art) Mumsby and his
irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in a huge and rambling house called Larklight…that just happens to be traveling through outer space. When a visitor called Mr. Webster arrives for a visit, it is far from an innocent social call. Before long Art and Myrtle are off on an adventure to the furthest reaches of space, where they will do battle with evil forces in order to save each other—and the universe. A fantastically original Victorian tale set in an outer space world that might have come from the imaginations of Jules Verne or L Frank Baum, but has a unique gravitational pull all its own…

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, was forced to flee through the Pool of Tears after a bloody palace coup staged by the murderous Redd. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life only to see it published as the nonsensical Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alyss had trusted Lewis Carroll to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere would find her and bring her home. But Carroll had gotten it all wrong. He even misspelled her name! If not for royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan's nonstop search to locate the lost princess, Alyss may have become just another society woman sipping tea in a too-tight corset instead of returning to Wonderland to fight Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller

Ananka Fishbein, a seventh grader at an expensive New York City school, likens her life to flavorless mush. But when she wakes up one Saturday morning and finds that the small park across the street has become a sinkhole, her decision to explore it transforms her existence. She meets the mysterious Kiki Strike, and subsequently the group of girls (each with a particular talent) who call themselves the Irregulars, and they embark on an adventure that involves exploring the Shadow City, a series of tunnels under Manhattan. The identity of Kiki, along with the motives of the mysterious individuals the Irregulars suspect are planning to attack the city, are the mysteries at the heart of the story. Miller pulls readers in immediately and takes them on a series of twists and turns, culminating in a thrilling climax complete with international politics and intrigue.

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are kids who are pretty normal-except that they're 98% human, 2% bird. They grew up in cages, living like rats, and now they're free-but being chased by the wicked, wolf-like Erasers, who've kidnapped Angel. Led by Max, the "Flock" embarks on a quest to find Angel, infiltrate a secret facility to track down their parents, get revenge on an evil traitor, and try to save the world-if there's time. James Patterson's young adult masterpiece of non-stop action, mystery and suspense soared to the top of bestseller lists and created an explosion of new fans for this beloved, multimillion-selling author.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

A meteor is going to hit the moon, and 16-year-old Miranda, like the rest of her family and neighbors in rural Pennsylvania, intends to watch it from the comfort of a lawn chair in her yard. But the event is not the benign impact predicted. The moon is knocked closer to Earth, setting off a chain of horrific occurrences: tsunamis, earthquakes, and, later, volcanic eruptions that disrupt life across the planet. Written in the form of Miranda's diary, this disquieting and involving story depicts one family's struggle to survive in a world where food, warmth, and well-being disappear in the blink of an eye. As life goes from bad to worse, Miranda struggles to find a way to survive both mentally and physically, discovering strength in her family members and herself.

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

A suspenseful, cautionary science fiction tale. In a future dystopia, cities have become for-profit businesses. Orphanages are not exempt from the struggle to make money, and at the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, kids are forced to endure product testing and frequently end up injured as a result. With orphans facing an average life expectancy of 15, 14-year-old Cosmo Hill knows that he is on borrowed time. Unfortunately, his escape attempt nearly proves fatal. While he's lying there dying, a small, hairless blue creature lands on his chest and begins to feed. He is rescued by the Supernaturalists, a motley crew of young people who have dedicated their lives to destroying the Parasites, which feed on the essence of the living. Cosmo joins the group as a Spotter, someone who can actually see the creatures and thus destroy them. However, facts soon emerge that cause the Supernaturalists to question everything they believe in. Is it possible that the Parasites don't feed off of the energy of dying people, but remove pain? Are they actually beneficial to society? The plot's twists and turns will keep readers totally engrossed until the last page.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Is it possible to grow up while getting younger? Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward? This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari

In a post-apocalyptic world, shrouded in darkness and continually lashed by rain, a young elf named Yorsh struggles to survive. When his village is destroyed by the torrential waters, Yorsh finds himself suddenly orphaned and alone -- the earth’s last elf.
But soon Yorsh discovers he is part of a powerful prophecy: when the last dragon and the last elf break the circle, the past and the future will meet, and the sun of a new summer will shine in the sky. Now Yorsh must decipher the prophecy and find the last dragon -- it is the only way to end the rains and to save the world from the Dark Age that has begun. Full of great tenderness and humor, this magical journey tells the story of a world now plagued by intolerance and wickedness, and the elf and the dragon who will fight for its redemption.

Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale

Seth's family has just moved to Galveston, TX, and the 17-year-old is discontented with his life. His mother makes him look after his little sister, his younger brothers are completely annoying, and his father wants him to go to college rather than let him follow his dream of being a carpenter. Still, things get off to a pretty good start. His uncle finds him a summer job as a carpenter's helper, he meets a girl he likes, and Galveston is a fun place to live. However, on September 8, 1900, everything changes when a deadly storm devastates the area. This coming-of-age story describes how Seth struggles to reach safety, works for his own survival and that of others, and comes to terms with change and loss. Readers feel his concern over his loved ones during the horrifying hours when no one knows who has survived. Through his eyes, they see the destruction caused by one of the worst storms in U.S. history. Hale has captured well the essence of this natural disaster by using numerous personal accounts and journals and molding them into Seth's narrative. Fact and fiction are blended effortlessly together in an exciting read that leaves readers with a sense of hope. An author's note includes photos of the hurricane's aftermath.