Thursday, March 23rd at 4:30 p.m.
Click here to register for our Book Bunch

Join Caroline and Donna for a book discussion and trivia game for 4th through 8th graders! We will be reading Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone. This is a perfect book to read during Women’s History Month!

When a group of girls get in trouble because of the school’s dress code they decide to stand up for themselves. Liza and Molly realize the unfairness of the dress code when they both wear the same outfit (Liza gets dress-coded but Molly doesn’t.) Molly then gets yelled at for wearing a tank top. As the unfairness and challenges of middle school are brought to light, the girls decide to make a stand. Molly starts a podcast so that her friends have a place to tell their stories as their rebellion turns into a revolution. Will the girls get in trouble or will they be able to convince their peers, parents and the administration that their bodies are not a distraction.

The Trove will provide a free copy of the book for the first eight individuals to register for the discussion. When the books are available, we will email to arrange pickup; please list an email address and phone number when registering. You can place a hold on the book using our catalog. If you prefer the eBook, you can find it on Libby.

Recommended Read:

The Prettiest by Brigit Young
For grades 4-8
Library Collection: book
Libby: eBook
“Three eighth-graders manage the fallout after someone publishes a ranked list of the prettiest girls in their class. Being ranked No. 1 throws young poet Eve Hoffman’s life into chaos. A second-place ranking knocks Sophie Kane for a loop, too; she’s desperate never to be seen as “less than” or “white trash” like her single mom. Nessa Flores-Brady never expected to make the list (not because she’s Latina, but because she’s fat), and she’s determined not to let it affect her. Still, the rankings put Eve and Nessa’s best friendship at risk, threaten Sophie’s status as the most popular, and galvanize the eighth grade into targeted bullying. The rude, disgusting, and occasionally anti-Semitic messages that flood Eve’s phone are all too familiar for anyone who’s attended a majority-white middle-class American school—even their principal, an Asian American woman, recalls a time a boy snapped her bra so hard she bled, and no adults did anything. To the girls’ credit, they communicate about the effects of normative beauty standards and band together against the people (mostly boys) who enforce them, but of course the perpetrator isn’t whom they think. Eve’s older brother, Abe, and classmate Winston (who seems to be white) offer windows into the pressures of toxic masculinity. Endearingly nerdy references permeate the narrative. Their school is a diverse one, with difference mostly conveyed through naming convention. A sensitive story about sexual harassment and bullying with a feel-good ending.”  –Kirkus Reviews