Book Club Kits for Kids & Teens
Start your own book club by checking out these kits. Each kit contains 10 copies of the book, with a reading/discussion guide and notes about the author. Kits are available for a 6 week loan period. Click on the title to check for availability.
For a printed list click here.
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Murderers, mob bosses, and convicts . . . these guys are not your average neighbors. Unless you live on Alcatraz. It’s 1935 and twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to the infamous island. Now Moose has to try to fit in at his new school, avoid getting caught up in one of the warden’s daughter’s countless plots, and keep an eye on his sister Natalie, who’s not like other kids. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents’ expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away. Ages 10-15
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Luke has never been to school. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows. Does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Ages 9-12
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
One summer day, Opal goes into a supermarket and comes out with a scraggly dog that she names Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, her preacher father finally tells her ten things about her absentee mother, and Opal makes lots of unusual friends in her quirky Florida town. And because of Winn-Dixie, Opal grows to learn that friendship — and forgiveness — can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm. Ages 8-12
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Set against a backdrop of life on a medieval manor, here is a young girl's account of her 14th year. Catherine feels trapped because her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man. By wit, trickery, and luck, she manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then comes a man from the north--the oldest, the ugliest, and the richest. Ages 12 and up
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
August 1793. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother. Mattie has plans of her own. But the waterfront is abuzz with reports of disease. "Fever" spreads from the docks and creeps toward Mattie's home, threatening everything she holds dear. As the cemeteries fill with fever victims, fear turns to panic, and thousands flee the city. Then tragedy strikes, and Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare. Suddenly, her struggle to build a better life must give way to something even more important -- the fight to stay alive. Ages 10-15
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Nicholas Allen is not a troublemaker -- he's just creative. When he decides to liven things up in Mrs Granger's fifth grade language arts class, he comes up with the greatest plan yet. He invents a new word for a pen -- frindle. It doesn't take long for frindle to take root and soon the excitement spreads beyond the school and town and unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. Ages 8-11
The Giver by Lois Lowry
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price. Ages 12 and up
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother has given him as a present -- and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart ever since his parents' divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair -- it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive. Ages 12 and up
Holes by Louis Sachar
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish boys' juvenile detention center in the Texas desert. As punishment, the boys here must each dig a hole every day, five feet deep and five feet across. Ultimately, Stanley "digs up the truth" -- and through his experience, finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. Ages 9-12
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Unfortunately, Roy’s first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn’t been sinking his thumbs into Roy’s temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. He was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and–here’s the odd part–wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy’s trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails. Ages 9-12
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
Louise knew that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone loved. Growing up on a tiny Chesapeake Bay island in the early 1940s, angry Louise reveals how Caroline robbed her of everything: her hopes for schooling, her friends, her mother, even her name. The war unexpectedly gave this independent girl a chance to fulfill her childish dream to work as a watermen alongside her father. But the dream did not satisfy the woman she was becoming. Alone and unsure, Louise began to fight her way to a place where Caroline could not reach. Ages 12 and up
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. Percy’s mom decides its time that he knew the truth about where he came from. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods, where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends, Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves. Ages 9-12
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Narnia … the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy … the place where adventure begins. Lucy is the first to find the secret wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever. Ages 9-12
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Jack hates poetry. Only girls write it and every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won't stop giving her class poetry assignments—and Jack can't avoid them. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say. Ages 9-12
Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell
The latest chapter in her book unfolds when her mother insists that she be taken out of special Ed. So Sahara is facing fifth grade in the regular classroom, again. But why even try to do the work, Sahara wonders, if everything just winds up in the counselor's file? Enter Miss Pointy, the new fifth-grade teacher. With her eggplant-colored lipstick, and strange subjects such as "Puzzling" and "Time Travel," she's like no other teacher Sahara has ever known. Through Miss Pointy's unusual teaching, storytelling, and quiet support, Sahara finds the courage to overcome her fears and prove which file shows her true self. Ages 9-12
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles upon the Tuck family's disturbing secret, she is forced to come to terms with her conflicting emotions. She feels drawn to the loving, gentle and rather eccentric Tucks, but what they tell her is too incredible to be believed. Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family tries to make Winnie understand that the terrible magic of the forest spring can never be revealed. Ages 9-12