Book Club Help for You

Here’s the scoop. You’ve moved. Remembering what fun you had in your former book club, you investigate your local neighborhood network group. Maybe you can start your own club.

The library has a particularly useful help site in Lit Lovers, a “well-read online community.” This site will help you start your own book club – they have tips about all aspects, from selecting and discussing your selection as well as questions for both fiction and non-fiction titles. In addition there are games and icebreakers.

You’ve launched your group. Now it’s time to choose your monthly title. How else can the library specifically help? Particularly useful are the library’s book kits, which contain 10 copies of one title, a discussion guide, and can be checked out for six weeks to one person. In addition, the kits can be reserved.Planning in advance is easy. By doing a key word search, using the term “book group kit,” you will get an extensive selection of over 100 hundred titles. Be sure and sort the list for adult titles, however.

The library also has Novelist Plus, a book selection site that will give capsule summaries by category as well as guides, and author read-alikes. (Navigation: Library home page > Resources > A-Z > N > Novelist +)

There’s even more on our website. Do explore our guide particularly the tab about book discussion groups.

Happy reading!

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Tween Page Turners

Are you in grades 6-8? Do you like to read books and discuss what you’ve read (and have a lot of fun?) Consider joining Tween Page Turners. We meet once a month (the last Wednesday of the month) from 4-5 pm in conference Room A. We read a different book each month, and sometimes we read Advanced Reader’s Copies (books that are not yet published) and review them for the library. We currently are about half full, and are looking for new tweens to join us! If you are interested, please stop by the Children’s Desk to pick up a copy of the bookfor the next month’s meeting.

If you would like any further information, or have any questions, please email Mary Ayers at mcayers@aclibrary.org.

Some of the recent titles we’ve read:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Secret of Platform 13 by Iva Ibbotson

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

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The Lightning Thief

I recently read the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I have heard a lot fantastic things about this book and have watched it come and go from the library for quite some time now, so I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. The Lightning Thief is one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time.

The story is about Percy Jackson, a 12 year old boy from New York. Percy has trouble in school and has been kicked out of several. While on a field trip something strange happens. One of Percy’s teachers turns into a monster and he has to slay her. Strange things continue to happen and Percy finds out that he is different than other kids; in fact his father is a Greek God. At the end of the school year He is sent by his mother to a summer camp for kids who are half-human, half-God. After a dangerous drive to get to the camp he is attacked by a Minotaur (a half-bull, half-human monster). He finally makes it into the camp but has to recover from injuries received fighting the Minotaur. While at camp he learns more about the Greek Gods and trains to be a hero. He also finds out which God his father is. Percy and two friends from camp are sent on an epic journey to recover a lightning bolt stolen from Zeus. I don’t want to give too much away…but if you like hero stories with a wealth of Greek mythology mixed in, this book is for you. There are sequels as well, so make sure to check them out.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Lightning Thief

The Sea of Monsters  

The Titan’s Curse

The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Last Olympian

The Heroes of Olympus

The Lost Hero

The Son of Neptune (estimated publishing date October 4, 2011)

If you have already read the Percy Jackson series check out the Kane series and learn about Egyptian mythology.

The Kane Chronicles

The Red Pyramid               

The Throne of Fire

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Kids Talk Books 2

Check out these Book Talks done by kids!

Click on the picture to the left to see the videos on the Centerville Library Glogster page. If you would like to participate in the Centerville Library Kids Book Discussion Club join us the second Thursday of every month. You can record your own Book Talk and be featured on the Centerville Library Glogster Blog and Facebook page.

Join us today (Feb 10th) at the Centerville Library from 4:30-5:30

If you can’t make it today, contact Elizabeth to find out when our next meeting will be.

510-795-2629 or egamell@aclibrary.org

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Happy New Year from Centerville Library!

Click on the present to see what’s inside!

Many of the pictures in this multimedia poster have a link to the video of the event. Click on some of them and enjoy!

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Centerville Library -The place to be!

Centerville  library  is small , and only open two  days  a week.  We are  always  a busy  place.   Last we had  a lot  of  extra fun.  Our  usual  week  includes two  staff story times, one story time  done by  teen  volunteers and our  Read  with me reading program every afternoon.  On Tuesday  we  added   a Valentine’s Day  Craft program  that  was  very well attended.

On Thursday it  was  even More Exciting .  Our  monthly kid’s  book  Club  had its first  author  visit.  Ms. Deborah  Grabien.  While Ms.  Grabien  has written  a number  of  books for adults , (  Rock  and  Roll  Never  Forgets  and   New  Slain  Knight  to name two) , Dark’s  Tale  is  her  first  book  for  younger  Readers ( ages 9 to  13 ) .  We discussed  her  book, the ecology  of  golden gate  park,  learned  about  writing , and the world Of  publishing.  Thanks  to  Egmont , (  a long  time children’s  publisher ,  just  starting to publish  in the US) , the book group got  copies  of  the book for  Ms. Grabien to sign and the kids  to keep. 

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Centerville Kids Book Club!!!

Our  next  book  club  meeting is November 12th from 4 to  5 and we  will be discussing Airborn by Kenneth  Oppel.

This is an exciting novel that take place in a world where airplanes were never invented. Instead people travel by airships — that are a cross between dirigibles and cruise ships. Matt, a cabin boy ,meets Kate , a passenger; who is determined to prove that her grandfather did discover a new animal. Matt is intrigued by Kate’s grandfather’s journal. However ship duties, chaperones, and pirates make the task more difficult and exciting.

Come join the discussion!

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