October Book Club: The Magic Half

The book selection for October was "The Magic Half" by Annie Barrows. This is a wonderful book--part mystery, part history, part fantasy, part realistic fiction. The main character is Miri, an 11-year-old girl with twin older brothers and twin younger sisters. Miri often feels left out, especially after they move to a new house on land that used to be a working farm. The best part of the old house is that Miri finally gets to have her own bedroom. One day as she is in her bedroom imagining how it will look with freshly painted walls, she spies a glass lens taped to the wall near the floor. Curious, Miri pulls the lens free and looks through it...and is immediately transported back in time to 1935! She is still in the same house but that's all that is the same. There's a different girl, Molly, living in her bedroom. Molly is badly in need of help to escape an abusive situation. Miri feels an intense connection with Molly and wants to help her. Molly, in turn, says she and her magical grandmother have "called" up Miri. Together, with many twists and turns and near-disasters, Molly and Miri construct a plan that eventually succeeds in bringing them both back to the present day where they find that history has been changed! It's as through Molly and Miri have always been twins. Only they have any memories of what really happened.

September Book Club -- "Eleven" by Patricia Reilly Giff

It's hard to believe that mid-August is here and the first meeting of the 2009-10 Ashburn Kids Book Club is close at hand! Once again we will meet on the first Thursday night of each month at 7 p.m. The first meeting will be on September 3. Please notice that this is actually BEFORE the first day of school. Registration is now open and can be found at this link: http://engagedpatrons.org/EventsRegister.cfm?SiteID=6457&BranchID=454&Branch=Ashburn%20Library&EventID=38561

The book for September is "Eleven" by Patricia Reilly Giff. It is an exciting book about a boy, Sam, who lives happily with his grandfather. On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Sam goes up into the attic in search of birthday gifts he thinks his grandfather has hidden there. But instead of birthday presents, Sam he finds an old newspaper clipping about himself. The newspaper article stirs old distant memories for Sam and he begins to question many things about his life. Eventually, with the help of a new friend at school, Sam is able to solve the mystery and get his questions are answered.

November Book Club: "The Ghost's Grave"

For our November 6th meeting of the Ashburn Kids Book Club, we will be reading and discussing the book, "The Ghost's Grave" by Peg Kehret. This book is one of ten books nominated for this school year's Virginia Readers Choice Award, an annual award presented by the Virginia State Reading Association. The award is based on votes of children all over Virginia who read the ten book nominations and then choose their favorites. "The Ghost's Grave" has already won young reader awards in the states of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Washington and So. Dakota.

This book is about a 12-year-old boy named Josh whose plans for an exciting summer of baseball playing and hanging out with his friends are shattered when he learns he will be spending the summer with his old eccentric aunt who lives in a tiny town and has no television and no internet. Things don't stay dull for long, though. Josh soon meets Willie, the ghost of a coal miner killed in a mine explosion. Willie has been waiting years for some kind soul to dig up his leg and rebury it with the rest of him--only then will he be at peace. Josh reluctantly agrees to do the grisly deed, but when he digs in the old cemetery, he uncovers a cache of $100 bills--$130,000.00 total. The story takes many suspenseful twists and turns as Josh discovers who buried the money in Willie's grave, and just how far that person will go to get the money back.

It's the perfect book to read during this Halloween season!

Join us on Thursday, Nov. 6th, at 7 pm for our Ashburn Kids Books Club discussion of "The Ghost's Grave."