Book Club for Kids

Writer Varsha Bajaj talks to Kitty Felde about the connection between therapy and writing and the importance of having another set of eyes on a developing manuscript.
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"Count Me In" by Varsha Bajaj looks at the power of social media to combat hate. The story involves a hate crime: an attack on an Indian American family and how that changes a shy girl named Karina and the boy next door who used to hang out with what the grandfather called a pack of hyenas. Our readers are 5th graders from PS 174 in Queens, New York and they interview our author. Our celebrity reader is public radio journalist Deepa Fernandes. Kitty Felde is host.
www.bookclubforkids.org

We are always thrilled when a middle grade novel is turned into a movie and this month, Katherine Applegate's tale of a very special gorilla THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN began airing on Disney Plus. We love Katherine Applegate. In fact, we talked to her a couple of years ago about another of her books about another wonderful animal: an invisible cat. So here's to you, Katherine Applegate: we reprise our episode of Crenshaw.
The book is the story of a family on the verge of becoming homeless. Our student readers from Gunston Middle School talk about their own experiences volunteering at a homeless shelter. Actor Rodney Lizcano from the Denver Theater Center is our celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

Book Club for Kids goes to Omaha where this month, the Omaha Public Library is sponsoring the Omaha Reads program, encouraging the city to read local author Rainbow Rowell's unlikely romance ELEANOR & PARK. Members of the Book Worm Girls Book Group discuss the show with host Kitty Felde. Omaha Congressman Brad Ashford is our celebrity reader. Writer Rainbow Rowell tells how the book she pitched to her agent became very personal indeed.

The worst summer vacation ever? Being stuck in the middle of a New Mexico desert with the crabbiest grandfather on planet earth. But there are also magical bees that promise the end of of a drought.
Students from Belvedere Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia discuss HOUR OF THE BEES and writer Lindsay Eager tells where the tale began. 
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham from New Mexico is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.