What we've been reading:
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
- Genre: sci-fi
- Summary: Revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. Prequel follows the character of Coriolanus Snow.
- Ryleigh says, "So much betrayal and death, and it was beautiful!"
- Exit West by Mohsid Hamid
- Genre: realistic
- Summary: In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet--sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, thrust into premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors--doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As violence and the threat of violence escalate, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through.
- All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
- Genre: realistic
- Summary: Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start. Juniper, California. Now. Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding. Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever. When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst. From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.
-
Nominated for the 2024 Illinois Teen Choice Award
- Luck of the Draw by Iris Tom
-
NEW book written by VHHS student Iris Tom, with cover illustrattion by VHHS student Cara Lee
- "It has a chart *and* a map?!" to our delight
-
Club Unboxing video:
- Club members got to help unbox an LMC box of new books!
- Disclaimer: some of these new books are not yet ready to be checked out! Give us a minute, okay?!
-
Each member chose a new book for this game:
- "Judge a book by its cover:" 0-5 stars based on first look alone
- "What is this book about?" Either likely (or, for humor's sake, very unlikely!) storyline guesses
- "Read the blurb in a dramatic manner"
- Suspended by Jason Reynolds
- Mrs. Caldicott voted 10 stars based solely on her ongoing crush on this amazing author!
- Dream to Me by Pausch
- She is a Haunting by Tran
- "the house is hungry"
- Unnecesasary Drama
- genre:
- Sophia correctly guessed the "OMG they were roommates!" trope
- Spin by Carerra
- Genre: fantasy
- Summary:
- I'm Not Supposed to be in the Dark"
- Julia signaled 1 star because of realistic bookcover
- City of Nightmares