Booktalks

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Bill's Booktalk:

"The Grapes of Wrath" John Steinbeck

What if your family was all you had? Removed from the land your family has survived on for years, you need to find a new life. Shelter. Work. Food. A recently paroled Tom Joad ventures home from prison to find his family of sharecroppers packing up their belongings. Once fertile Oklahoma has been decimated by the two-headed beast of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and the Joads are being pulled down fabled Route 66 to California by the promise of a better life. Has Tom and his struggling family damned themselves to further torment and disaster or is the grass truly greener on the other side of the barren American Southwest?

Maureen Kane Booktalk

King Midas and the Golden Touch Charlotte Kraft

Imagine you were a King and you lived in a big mansion, with lots of servants and lots of treasures. Now think about it, if you (as King) were granted one wish what would be your wish? In the legendary story, King Midas and the Golden Touch, King Midas was granted one wish. He wished for everything he touched to turn to gold. What King Midas asked for, he got! King Midas was granted the magic touch and everything he touched did indeed turn to gold; his food, the blankets on his bed, and the flowers in his garden. King Midas was shouting with joy until he touched what he loved more than anything else in the world...his daughter, Marigold. When King Midas gave his beloved Marigold a hug she turned to a statue of gold. King Midas had to learn that gold is not the most important thing in life.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rosita Alvarez

<span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Jake Drake: Class Clown by Andrew Clements

<span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Hav<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">e you ever had a teacher that was always grumpy? Jake Drake is a boy in the second grade and his teacher, Mrs. Brattle, will be out of the classroom for the next several weeks. The student teacher, Miss Bruce, will be in charge. The only problem is that she has never smiled and seems to be very grumpy with the students. Miss Bruce's first words when left alone with the students is "Let's begin by talking about the rules. First of all, it is going to be quiet in my classroom. No talking, no whispering, and no shouting or laughing. You may not talk unless you raise your hand first and I give you permission." <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Will Jake survive these next few weeks in Miss Bruce's classroom being a class clown?

Bianca Scaramella

Venkatesh, Sudhir Gang Leader for a Day

Find out how one multiple choice survey turned into an underground passport unveiling the curtain to a world where one wrong move could mean the difference between life and death.

Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociologist working on his graduate degree, went out into the housing projects of Chicago to learn more about how its residents felt about urban poverty. Little did Sudhir expect but to be befriended by gang leader JT. As an unlikely friendship develops, Sudhir documents events, the hardships of gang life, and the code its members live by or die by. All of Sudhir's time spent with JT over the years leads to Sudhir becoming gang leader for a day, where he will make decisions, see how far friendship really goes in a war zone where dues always get paid, all the while trying not to get lost in the mix.