Book Club Kits for Kids
Book Club Kits for Kids are especially designed for smaller reading groups (up to 14 kids). All copies of the book will be checked out to you in a red bag and can be kept for up to 9 weeks. Print the discussion guide below your title, which includes author biographies, book reviews and questions. We also have a General Discussion Guide to print for use with any title.
Please allow one to two weeks for a staff member to contact you about your request, and for your books to arrive. If you have any questions or are experiencing difficulties ordering a kit online, read these instructions. You may also call East Regional Library – Youth Services (919-217-5317) or email Book Club Kits for Kids.
Below is the complete list of books we offer as kits and a guide to suggested grade levels.
Lower Elementary: 1st–3rd
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
(Also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Through scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire. A fun, suspenseful, but not too scary read!
Two thumbs up from the West Regional Library Kids Book Club
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 1980
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
If you haven't met Clementine yet, you are in for a real treat! While sorting through friendship difficulties, Clementine gains several unique hairstyles and helps her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from their apartment.
Two thumbs up from the West Regional Library Kids Book Club!
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 2007
School Library Journal Best Books – 2006
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
Print Discussion Guide
After a bulletin board falls on Stanley while he is sleeping; he finds that being flat has its advantages.
Two thumbs up from the West Regional Library Kids Book Club
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry
(Also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
A most unusual new student who loves to be the center of attention entertains her teacher and fellow second-graders by telling absolutely true stories about herself, including how she got her name.
Two thumbs up from the West Regional Library Kids Book Club
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 2003
Parents' Choice Award – 2002
The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
Print the Discussion Guide
Julian is great at telling stories! He can make his younger brother believe anything. But sometimes the stories end up getting them in some situations with hilarious results.
Two thumbs up from the West Regional Library Kids Book Club!
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 1982
Parents' Choice Award – 1998
Tornado by Betsy Byars
Print the Discussion Guide
As they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog who was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy.
North Carolina Children's Book Award – 2001
Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic by Emily Jenkins
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Ever wonder about the secret life of toys? Then this book is for you. Follow three toy friends on their delightful adventures. This sweet and funny story will charm young readers.
Two thumbs up from West Regional Library Kids Book Club!
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 2007
Parents' Choice Award – 2005
School Library Journal Best Books – 2005
The World According to Humphrey by Emily Jenkins
Print Discussion Guide
Humphrey, pet hamster at Longfellow School, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher.
Knight Readers' Book Club from East Regional Library loved this book!
The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese-American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2007
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2006
Upper Elementary: 4th–5th
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
(also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
A 12-year-old boy moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
Kirkus Review: Moose's world is turned upside down when his family moves to Alcatraz Island where his dad has taken a job as a prison guard. Super-responsible Moose, big for 12, finds himself caught in the social interactions of this odd cut-off world. He cares for his sister who is older, yet acts much younger due to her autism.
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 2005
Parents' Choice Award – 2004
School Library Journal Best Books – 2004
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2005
Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Born third at a time when having more than two children per family is legal, Luke has spent all his 12 years in hiding until he meets Jen, a 'shadow child' next door. She is a spirited girl devoted to bringing the shadow children's plight center-stage, through a march on the White House.This is the first book in the series Shadow Children.
Children who attend Elementary Book Club at Holly Springs Library gave 4 stars to this book!
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 1999
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 2000
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
(also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
In the 2001 Newbery Honor Book, 10-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida and all the good things that happen to her because of her big, ugly dog, Winn-Dixie.
American Library Association Notable Children's Book – 2001
Parents Choice Award – 2000
School Library Journal Best Books – 2000
New York Times Notable Book – 2001
Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
Print the Discussion Guide
Knights, castles, dragons and magic! Embark on this exciting and dangerous adventure with William as he bravely sets out on a personal quest.
1987 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Five lucky people find the golden tickets and win a visit to Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory and see the secrets and magic inside.
Knight Readers' Book Club from East Regional Library though this book was delicious!
Millennium Children's Book Award – 2000
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
A group of children, entranced with the study of Egypt, play their own Egypt “game” in a deserted lot behind the local junk shop, where they are visited by a secret oracle, and unknowingly become involved in a murder.
Newbery Honor Book – 1968
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
(Also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
This is a funny romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade. Just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant story.
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
(also Available in Audio) Print Discussion Guide
When 13-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.
School Library Journal review: Haddix's latest science fiction series starts off with a bang in this nail-biter. A plane arrives at an airline gate unnoticed by radar and most personnel. There are no flight attendants, no pilot, in fact no adults at all, but there are 36 passengers—each seat is inhabited by an infant. This book's exciting premise and cliff-hanger ending will leave readers on the edge of their seats and begging for more.
Oprah’s Kids Reading List Book
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
(also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 12-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and become a changed person and a heroine to herself.
Kid Review: “I loved this book! It was wonderfully exciting and interesting. Great for anyone, though probably best for the 9–12 age range.”
Newbery Medal Winner – 1968
Granny Torelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech
Print the Discussion Guide
Rosie and her blind best friend, Bailey, don't always get along, that's true. But Granny Torrelli seems to know just how to make things right again with her interesting stories and family recipes. It's easier to remember what's important about love, life, and friendship while Granny Torelli makes soup.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2004
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2003
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Print the Discussion Guide
Jane finds a coin which sends her and her siblings on adventures to such far places as King Arthur’s Court and the Sahara Desert. The coin grants half the wish only, which makes the story full of surprise and laughter.
Holes by Louis Sachar
(also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a correctional camp in the Texas desert, where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Kid Review: “Holes was a really good book. It is a good story about the power of friendship and really funny, too.”
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 1999
National Book Award for Young People’s List – 1998
Newbery Medal Winner – 1999
School Library Journal Best Books – 1998
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 1999
The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Told in short interviews, this is the story of a geek, a class clown, a teacher’s pet and a slacker bound together by a secret invention: the homework machine. Before long, things get out of control and the kids are in a race against their own creation and the loser could end up in jail…or worse!
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2006
The Janitor’s Boy by Andrew Clements
(also Available in Large Print and Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
When Jack Rankin gets busted for defacing a school desk with a huge wad of disgusting, watermelon bubble gum, the principal sentences him to three weeks of after-school gum cleanup for the chief custodian…Jack’s own dad! But doing time in the school basement after hours reveals some pretty surprising things: about the school, about Jack's father, and about Jack himself.
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka
Print Discussion Guide
How did Jon Scieszka get so funny? He grew up as one of six brothers with Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, and jokes told at family dinner.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2009
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
(also Available in Audio) Print Discussion Guide
Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams and histories.
Kid Review: “This book is really great. It is moving, fun and sends a great message.”
School Library Journal Best Books – 2006
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2006
New York Times Notable Book – 2006
Poppy by Avi
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
A hoot owl, Ocax, rules Dimwood Forest and promises to protect the mice as long as they ask his permission to move about. Poppy is a deer mouse under the owl's protection, but when her fiancé is killed by Ocax, she defies the owl and begins a journey to a new place. Poppy wants to find a place where her family can live away from Ocax, but she has to do it without Ocax catching her.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 1996
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 1995
School Library Journal Best Books – 1995
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson(also Available in Large Print)
Print the Discussion GuideA forgotten door on an abandoned railway platform is the entrance to a magical kingdom – an island where humans live happily with mermaids, ogres and other wonderful creatures.
School Library Journal Best Book – 1998
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
(also Available in Large Print & Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
If you like dogs then this is the book for you! When Marty finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, he tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs. It is a story of love and trust.
Newbery Medal Winner – 1992
Stone Fox by John Gardiner(also Available in Audio)
Print the Discussion Guide
Willy needs 500 dollars to pay off 10 years of back taxes, or the farm will be taken away from him and his ailing grandfather. He stakes everything on one wild hope: that he and his dog, Searchlight, can outrun the best dogsled racers in the country - including the legendary Indian, Stone Fox!
Storm Warriors by Elisa Carbone
Print the Discussion Guide
In 1895, after his mother's death, 12-year-old Nathan moves with his father and grandfather to Pea Island off the coast of North Carolina, where he hopes to join the all-black crew at the nearby lifesaving station, despite his father's objections. *An exciting read based on true stories & North Carolina interest*
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2002
Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Print the Discussion GuideWhen arrogant young Gen boasts that he can steal anything, he is yanked from a dungeon cell and pressed into service for the king. Gen must journey to a remote underground temple to steal a precious stone before the tide comes in and traps him in the temple forever.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 1997
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 1997
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
(also Available in Audio) Print Discussion Guide
A diverse group of strangers is mysteriously handpicked to figure out who killed old Mr. Westing. Whoever solves the mystery will inherit the fortune he left behind! This humorous story is full of clever twists and turns and will keep readers on the edge of their seats. *A consistent favorite among both kids and librarians!
Newbery Medal Winner – 1979
Middle School: 6th–9th
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Gary Sonnenblick
Print Discussion Guide
Thirteen-year-old Steven has totally normal life: he plays drums in the All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the hottest girl in the school, and is constantly annoyed by his 5-year-old brother, Jeffrey. But when Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven's world is turned upside down. Salted with humor and peppered with devastating realities, this is a heartwarming journey through a year in the life of a family in crisis.
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2005
Young Adult Library Services Association Popular Paperbacks – 2007
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Print the Discussion Guide
Teenage mother Nia had planned to keep her baby, but when there are complications from the birth, the baby’s father, Bobby, becomes a full-time parent. Unique in its perspective, this story is sweet and tender, yet honest in its depiction of the difficult and exhausting demands of teenage parenthood.
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2005
Coretta Scott King Award – 2004
Young Adult Library Services Association Michael L. Printz Award – 2004
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 2004
Lion Boy by Zizou Corder
Print the Discussion Guide
Charlie, a boy who communicates with felines, uses his ability as he sets off to rescue his kidnapped parents. He joins a floating circus that happens to be headed in the right direction, and teams up with some lions, planning their escape in return for their help with his quest.
Pizza and Pages Book Club from East Regional Library loved this book!
Lionboy is a Starred Review by Publishers Weekly
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
(also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a trolley accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his aunt and uncle, he decides to run away (really, RUN!). And this is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 1991
Newbery Medal Winner – 1991
Parents’ Choice Award – 1990
Peak by Roland Smith
Print the Discussion Guide
When Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling Manhattan’s Woolworth Building, his mom and stepdad make a deal with the judge to ship him out of the country to live with Peak’s father, who helps teams prepare to climb Mt. Everest. Seeing a profitable opportunity, his father decides to train Peak to be the youngest person to ever reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2007
National Outdoor Book Award for Children – 2007
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2008
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 2008
Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix(also Available in Large Print & Audio Cassette)
Print the Discussion Guide
Jessie lives in the 1840s, or so she believes until her mother sends her on a dangerous mission to bring back help from outside, the real world, where it is 1996. When diphtheria strikes the Clifton village and the children start dying, Jessie has to go out and get help to save the children before they run out of time.
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 1997
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 1996
The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake
Print the Discussion Guide
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, encounters cruelty from her classmates and struggles to find her voice and her identity beyond her appearance. She discovers her talent for writing and with the help of her teacher finds courage and self respect from within.
Holly Springs Teen Book Club loved the book.
Coretta Scott King Award – 1999
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 1999
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 1999
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan
Print the Discussion Guide
Jake Semple is notorious. Rumor has it he burned down his old school and has been kicked out of every school in his home state. Only one place will take him now, a home school run by the Applewhites, a chaotic and hilarious family of artists.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2003
Booklist Editor’s Choice – 2002
School Library Journal Best Books – 2002
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2003
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen(also Available in Audio)
Print the Discussion Guide
Cole Matthews is a violent teen offender convicted of viciously beating a classmate, Peter, causing neurological and psychological problems. Cole elects to participate in Circle Justice, an alternative sentencing program based on traditional Native American practices that results in his being banished to a remote Alaskan Island, where he is left to survive for a year.
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2002
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
(Also Available in Audio) Print the Discussion Guide
A sister and brother narrate alternate chapters about their life in the Japanese occupation of Korea before and during World War II. Families are forced to change their names to Japanese names, and the generations are divided when young people are taught to speak Japanese instead of Korean. When the brother joins the Japanese army, the family begins to wonder if Korean culture will disappear altogether.
American Library Association Notable Children’s Book – 2003
School Library Journal Best Book – 2002
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2003
High School: 10th–12th
Unwind by Neal Shusterman Print Discussion Guide Between the ages of 13 and 18, parents can have their children “unwound” so that they can harvest their body parts for others’ use. But if you receive a pianist’s hands, can you play piano? If you receive someone else’s brain, will you also have their memories? This is the story of three teens who are on a desperate flight to save themselves from unwinding.
Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2008
Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers – 2008