CHILDREN’S

Parent and Child Titles Available for Loan to Book Discussion Groups

 

 

Check out a canvas bag filled with titles used at Library book discussions.  We’ll include questions to use for discussion and tips for making your book club a success.  For more information, please contact the Reader Assistance Desk at

(847) 358-5881, ext 132.

 

 

Among the Hidden     Science Fiction

Haddix, Margaret Peterson

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family’s farm until another “third” convinces him that the government is wrong.

 

The Breadwinner       Contemporary Fiction

Ellis, Deborah

Parvana, an eleven-year-old girl living in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, must support her family after her father is arrested.  Her situation is especially difficult because women are strictly forbidden by the government to earn money.

 

Chinese Cinderella: the True Story of an Unwanted Daughter  (Youth Version)

Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter           (Adult Version)      Autobiography

Mah, Adeline Yen

The daughter of a wealthy businessman describes her very difficult childhood and the psychological abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepmother.

 

The Doll People         Fantasy

Martin, Ann M.

Annabelle Doll has been 8-years-old for more than a hundred years. Not a lot has happened to her, cooped up in the dollhouse, with the same doll family, day after day, year after year. . . until one day the Funcrafts move in.

 

The Egypt Game        Mystery

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley

A group of children, entranced with the study of Egypt, play their own Egypt game, are visited by a secret oracle, become involved in a murder and befriend an eccentric professor.

 

Esperanza Rising       Multicultural Fiction

Ryan, Pat Muñoz

Esperanza’s happy life on her family’s large ranch in Mexico ends abruptly with the murder of her father. Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege and go to work in the harsh labor camps of Southern California.

 

Fires of Jubilee          Historical Fiction

Hart, Alison

It's 1865 in the conquered South, and 13 year-old Abby Joyner still lives on the plantation where she was raised, but she and her grandparents are free and continue on for a small salary. One thing is the same as it has always been, though -- Abby does not know what became of her mother.

 

The Ghost of Fossil Glen      Ghost Stories Fiction

DeFelice, Cynthia

Allie Nichols thinks she is being pursued by a ghost. Allie’s old pal, Dub, listens eagerly as Allie tells him about the mysterious voice that guides her down a steep cliff side.

 

Hidden Magic             Fantasy

Vande Velde, Vivian

Lost in a magic forest and separated from her prince, Princess Jennifer seeks help from a kindly young sorcerer in battling an evil witch.

 

A Long Way from Chicago    Realistic Fiction

Peck, Richard

Grandma Dowdel is not a good influence--and that's one good reason why Joey likes visiting her. Each August, he and his younger sister travel by train from Al Capone's Chicago to spend a week with Grandma in her scrappy small Illinois town.

 

Notes from a Liar and Her Dog    Realistic Fiction

Choldenko, Gennifer

Antonia "Ant" McPherson, is an embittered, smart-mouthed 6th grade girl who hides her pain behind a constantly growing web of bold-faced lies. She is so different from her perfect ballerina sisters, she becomes convinced that she's adopted

 

Our Only May Amelia           Historical Fiction

Holm, Jennifer

As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington State in 1899.

 

The School Story       Contemporary Fiction

Clements, Andrew

After twelve-year-old Natalie writes a wonderful novel, her friend Zoe helps her devise a scheme to get it accepted at the publishing house where Natalie’s mother works as an editor.

 

Shadow Horse            Mystery

Hart, Alison

The heartwarming story of a young girl's love for her horse and an intriguing mystery. Thirteen-year-old Jas tries to prove that the owner of the farm where she works has killed her favorite horse, Whirlwind.

 

Shelter Dogs: Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays Dogs, Non-fiction

Kehret, Peg

An amiable collection of eight short stories about unwanted dogs dumped at animal shelters by their owners; who went on to do great things.

 

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio   Biography

Kehret, Peg

A moving memoir about a 12 year-old that contracts polio in 1949. She describes her seven-month ordeal--her diagnosis and quarantine, her terrifying paralysis, her difficult recuperation--and the people she encountered along the way.

 

S.O.R. Losers                         Sports Fiction

Avi

The South Orange River (S.O.R.) School is big on sports and famous for not losing a game all season. All of that changes when the school insists that some seventh-grader non-jocks form a soccer team.

 

Surviving the Applewhites    Humor

Tolan, Stephanie S.

Rumor has it that Jake Semple burned down his old school and got kicked out of every school in his home state. Only one place will take him now, and that's a home school run by the Applewhites, a chaotic and hilarious family of artists.

 

The Thief Lord           Realistic Fiction

Funke, Cornelia

Prosper and Bo are orphans on the run from their cruel aunt and uncle. The brothers decide to hide out in Venice, where they meet a mysterious character called the "Thief Lord," who leads a ring of street children who dabble in petty crimes.

 

Toilet Paper Tigers    Humor

Korman, Gordon

When his Little League team gets a coach who knows nothing about baseball, 7th grader Corey is dismayed to see the team taken over by the coach's pushy 12-year-old granddaughter Kristy.