Book Choices: March - December 2020

March - Library Kit... hostess chooses her top 3 picks; then the HPL gives us whichever of these 3 are available (hostess - Chandra)
        
April - The Lastest Buzz ... one the most talked about novels of the year; any genre or age level as long as there is some buzz around the book lately (hostess - Danielle)

         - some options include:

• Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris - the story of a young woman's struggle to survive in Auschwitz and Siberia during WW2
• The Farm by Joanne Ramos - Jane agrees to stay at the farm for 9 months, cut off from her life, in order to secure her future, but at what price? 
• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood... her long-awaited follow up to The Handmaid's Tale
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead - two boys are sentenced to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida

May - Forgotten Favorites... a classic children's novel; sometimes we push the boundaries on "classic" and read the hottest new book for Middle Graders instead. (hostess - Emily)

         - some options include:

• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame... another classic with a subtext about the wonder of reading and writing books
• Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool... a Newbery Medal Winner; Abeline discovers secrets that change her view of her father and herself; and she changes the town she's visiting too
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - 16 year old Starr struggles with balancing her two worlds, grief and racism in this "must read" award-winning teen book
• Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer - its 2002 and Shirli finds an old violin belonging her her grandfather in the attic; this discovery reveals a family secret and changes Shirli's view of the world

June - Celebrate Canada... a Canadian author writing a story that takes place in Canada - past or present (hostess - Karen)

         - some options include:

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood... her long-awaited follow up to The Handmaid's Tale
• The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp - a young man in a Northern town struggles to grow up and deal with the trauma in his past
• Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline - a messed-up, grown-up Metis version of Little Red Riding Hood
• The Wake by Linden MacIntyre - the true story of a 1929 Tsunami in Newfoundland and how it devastates the community

September - Reading the Classics  (hostess - Marion)

• Top 10 Canadian Modern Classics:  Have you read all 10 of these?
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood; The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje; The Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munroe; Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie Macdonald; The Diviners by Margaret Laurence; Fifth Business by Robertson Davies; Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler; A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry; The Wars by Timothy Findley

October - Mystery Night  (hostess - Shelagh) 

• The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
• The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia de Luce #2) by 
  Alan Bradley
• Top 10 Canadian Mysteries: Still Life by Louise Penny; Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt; Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

November - Library Kit - hostess chooses her top 3 picks; then the HPL gives us whichever of these 3 are available (hostess - Tamara)

December - Cook Book - hostess chooses an inexpensive cookbook from Bookoutlet and orders for everyone (hostess - Tessa)