Virtual book club sessions have been the highlight of spring for librarians Lauren and Kat. We are looking forward to four more sessions this summer, this time with the theme of summer reading. Each month, one book club meeting will feature one title from a Highlands Middle School recommended reading list, and the other will feature a title from the White Plains High School recommended reading list. All four books are available with unlimited copies on Hoopla, and multiple copies on OverDrive. While these books are on recommended reading lists for various grade levels, the book clubs are open to all teens in grades 7-12. To register, click on the date(s) you would like to attend. August registration is not yet open, but will be available soon.

Friday, July 10 at 6:30 pm
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Highlands Middle School, 7th grade recommended title
Newbery Medal Winner; Coretta Scott King Award-winning author
OverDrive: eBook and digital audiobook
Hoopla: eBook and digital audiobook
“Riverdale Academy Day School is every parent’s dream for their child: it has a beautiful sprawling campus, a rigorous academic curriculum, and ample extracurricular activities. It’s also distinctly lacking in diversity. African-American new kid Jordan Banks would rather go to art school, but his parents have enrolled him, so he dutifully commutes to the Bronx from his home in Washington Heights, Manhattan.” –Publisher’s Weekly

Friday, July 24 at 6:30 pm
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
White Plains High School, 12th grade recommended title
National Book Award-winning author
OverDrive: eBook and digital audiobook
Hoopla: eBook and digital audiobook
Freading: eBook
“Senior year brings multiple changes for Emoni: a challenging culinary arts class, a chance to travel to Spain, a wonderful new boy in her life, and a need to figure out how to achieve her dreams of becoming an executive chef and still providing for her daughter without being a burden to her grandmother.” –VOYA Reviews

Friday, August 14 at 6:30 pm
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
Highlands Middle School, 8th grade recommended title
Newbery Honor Book
OverDrive: eBook and digital audiobook
Hoopla: eBook and digital audiobook
Freading: eBook
“Living in a tourist town on the Syrian coastline, Jude experiences the inequalities in her society firsthand. With the unfolding of the Arab Spring, her older brother, Issa, wants to join protests against the Syrian regime. The parents are in favor of staying out of it, but with news of a new baby and nearby towns turning into battlegrounds, Jude and her mother travel to join her uncle, a medical doctor, and his family in the American Midwest.” –Kirkus Reviews

Friday, August 28 at 6:30 pm
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
White Plains High School, 10th grade recommended title
OverDrive: eBook and digital audiobook
Hoopla: eBook and digital audiobook
Freading: eBook
“Everyone who is going to die on a given day gets a call to let them know; not the when, or the how, or the why, but just notification that they will die on that day. Mateo and Rufus each get that call and are facing their last day without a loved one. But there's an app for that.” –School Library Journal