Book Club for Kids

Readers from Chicago and Pasadena share their favorite books. Writer Stuart Gibbs drops by to talk about research.

Would you like to step into a painting and enter another world? That's what happens in "The Shadows" by Jacqueline West. It was the selection of the Girlfriends Book Club of Baltimore. Celebrity reader is public radio reporter Doualy Xaykaothao.

Kids from the Coal City, Illinois Public Library share their favorite books

It's a summer in the late 1960's and a trio of sisters from Brooklyn are getting to know their mother in Oakland. She sends them to an unusual summer camp - one run by the Black Panthers. Writer Rita Williams-Garcia talks about "One Crazy Summer." Congresswoman Barbara Lee is the celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

We enter a kingdom where the elites are silver and the grunts are red and one young girl with amazing powers challenges the status quo. Best-selling author Victoria Aveyard discusses storytelling in film and in books. NPR Morning Edition host Renee Montagne is celebrity reader. "Red Queen" was the choice of 7th graders at Newport Mill Middle School in Kensington, Maryland.

Kids from the Ottumwa Public Library Middle School Book Club share their favorite books

Imagine a world where killer tornadoes are a daily hazard. That's the world of Kate Messner's "Eye of the Storm." 5th graders at Belvedere Elementary discuss the book with host Kitty Felde. Laura Furgione, Deputy Director of the National Weather Service, is celebrity reader.

Americans have a romanticized image of English boarding schools. RIBBLESTROP is the opposite of that. Writer Andy Mulligan has created perhaps the most dangerous

Sometimes, you just need a friend. Even if he's imaginary, like the gigantic purple cat named Crenshaw. That's the name of Newbery Award winning writer Katherine Applegate's new book "Crenshaw." It's the story of a family on the verge of becoming homeless. Our readers from Gunston Middle School in Arlington, Virginia talk about their own experiences volunteering at a homeless shelter. Actor Rodney Lizcano is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

We take a trip down south, to the back woods of Alabama, to explore folk magic and the battle of good and evil. Students from Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa, California discuss "Hoodoo" by Ron L. Smith, who just won the American Library Association's Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. Veteran public radio journalist Brian Watt is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

It was 1973 when the president of Chile was thrown out of office by a military coup. That's the background for the novel "I Lived on Butterfly Hill" by Marjorie Agosin. Sudents from Sequoyah School in Pasadena, California discuss the book. Val Zavala, host of "SoCal Connected" on public television station KCET in Los Angeles is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

Trying to be all-American with an embarrassing Chinese great aunt is a challenge for Lucy. All she wants is to play basketball, not go to Chinese language school. And getting bullied at school doesn't help. Congresswoman Judy Chu of California is our celebrity reader. Writer Wendy Shang answers questions from kids at Hooray for Books bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia. Kitty Felde is host.

You'll fall in love with Melody, the young heroine in Sharon Draper's novel "Out of My Mind." She can't speak, confined to a wheelchair, and struggles to let the world know who she is: smart, sassy, and funny. The voice of C-Span Radio, Mindy Shaw, brings the book to life as celebrity reader. Writer Sharon Draper talks about her journey from Teacher of the Year to full-time writer. Host Kitty Felde asks everyone for their favorite book suggestions.

To celebrate the Tournament of Roses Parade, Book Club for Kids goes to Pasadena - not to smell the flowers on the floats, but to ask kids in that city for holiday book suggestions. Students at Sequoyah School offer their ideas to host Kitty Felde.

Students from Thomson Elementary School in Washington, DC loved Tom Angleberger's series of Star Wars inspired stories, they formed their own club to BEG him to write more. We talk about whether a paper finger puppet of Yoda can really bring wisdom to a 5th grader. Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz is the celebrity reader. With host Kitty Felde.