Sharing the books you loved growing up with your own family has a way of making you feel like a kid again. It doesn’t take long to get reacquainted with the characters who inspired your imagination and remember when story time with your parents was the highlight of your day. Scoop Family Book Club is a great way to discover the latest bestsellers for young readers and introduce your children to classic titles. Just like the wardrobe staples we count on year after year, your favorite books never go out of style.
Starting your book club is easy and a fun way to give your crew more time together during the last weeks of summer. Choose one or a few of these titles and dive in while there’s plenty of time for lounging in the hammock or on the beach. Book summaries below pulled from Amazon.com.
Age 6-8
New Release
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney-Hyperion)
“It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. . . .
Readers will gobble up this hilarious new story from award-winning author-illustrator Ryan T. Higgins.”
New Classic
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty (Harry N. Abrams)
“Rosie may seem quiet during the day, but at night she’s a brilliant inventor of gizmos and gadgets who dreams of becoming a great engineer. When her great-great-aunt Rose (Rosie the Riveter) comes for a visit and mentions her one unfinished goal–to fly–Rosie sets to work building a contraption to make her aunt’s dream come true. But when her contraption doesn’t fl y but rather hovers for a moment and then crashes, Rosie deems the invention a failure. On the contrary, Aunt Rose inisists that Rosie’s contraption was a raging success. You can only truly fail, she explains, if you quit.”
Age 9-12
New Release
Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty (Disney-Hyperion)
“To Willa, a young night-spirit, humans are the murderers of trees. She’s been taught to despise them and steal from them. She’s her clan’s best thief, creeping into the log cabins of the day-folk under cover of darkness and taking what they won’t miss. It’s dangerous work, but Willa will do anything to win the approval of the padaran, the charismatic leader of the Faeran people.
When Willa’s curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in the day-folk world, she calls upon the old powers of her beloved grandmother, and the unbreakable bonds of her forest allies, to survive. Only then does she begin to discover the shocking truth: that not all of her human enemies are the same, and that the foundations of her own Faeran society are crumbling. What do you do when you realize that the society you were born and raised in is rife with evil? Do you raise your voice? Do you stand up against it?
As forces of unfathomable destruction attack her forest home, Willa must decide who she truly is–facing deadly force with warm compassion, sinister corruption with trusted alliance, and finding a home for her longing heart.”
Classic Title
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (HarperCollins)
I’ve been reading this one with my daughter and it’s just as funny as I remember from fourth grade.
“Accidentally built standing thirty stories high (the builder said he was very sorry for the mistake), Wayside School has some of the wackiest classes in town, especially on the thirtieth floor. That’s where you’ll meet Bebe, the fastest draw in art class; John, who only reads upside down; Myron, the best class president, ever; and Sammy, the new kid—he’s a real rat.
More than nine million readers have laughed at the wacky stories of Wayside School. So what are you waiting for? Come visit Wayside School!”
Teen
New Release
A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes) by Sabaa Tahir (Razorbill)
“Beyond the Martial Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.
Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister’s life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. But she knows that danger lurks on all sides: Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor’s volatility to grow her own power–regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path.
Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But in the hunt to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would help her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight.
And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that demands his complete surrender–even if that means abandoning the woman he loves.”
Classic Title
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
“Matteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium–a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt’s first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster–except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself.
As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón’s power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn’t even suspect.”
*Book summaries below pulled from Amazon.com.
