Book Club for Kids – Details, episodes & analysis

What do you do when your long-time school mascot is offensive to others? That's the topic in Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell. Students from Eliot-Hine Middle School discuss the novel and interview the writer. California State Los Angeles theater professor Carolyn Dunn is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

Favorite Books from Eliot-Hine:

Stunt Boy - Jason Reynolds

The Falling Sword - Ben Kane

The Firekeeper's Daughter - Angeline Boulley

Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Charles Waters' Favorite Books:

Ordinary People - Judith Guest

Raymond Carver short stories

Bronx Masquerade - Nikki Grimes

Under the Mesquite - Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Carolyn Dunn's Favorite Books:

Love Medicine - Louise Erdich

The Master Butchers Singing Club  - Louise Erdich

Lilith's Brood - Octavia E. Butler

Angela Dominguez writes and illustrates the Stella Diaz series. She talks to us about her writing path from drawing to writing.

More author interviews at our website.

We continue our look at books that have been challenged or banned. This week, we revisit STELLA DIAZ HAS SOMETHING TO SAY by Angela Dominguez.

In 2000, the Central York School District pulled books from shelves that dealt with race. In fact, every book removed from school classrooms and libraries were written by people of color. After months of protests, the books were once again available to students in 2001.

We invited kids onstage at the City of Stem LA Maker Faire with host Kitty Felde to tell the audience about their favorite books: 

Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland

Dork Diaries - Rachel Renee Russell

Zoey and Sassafras - Asia Citro

Go Team Spidey - Steve Behling

The Secret Series - Pseudonymous Bosch

We're happy to report that the number 3 most popular episode of Book Club for Kids is no mystery...actually, it IS a mystery: Varian Johnson's The Parker Inheritance.

Do you love a mystery? Do you love playing detective, looking for clues on every page? This week's novel is about a lot of things – segregation, bullying, and most of all, a family mystery. 

This week's episode is "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson. Our readers are from Washington DC's AIM Academy. Actress Sheila Collins is celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

And by the way, if your school is in LA County, we'll come out and tape a Book Club for Kids episode in your classroom! Just have your teacher, parent, or librarian contact us at the website and click on the "Want to be on the show?" button.

Book Club for Kids live onstage!

We visit the City of Stem LA Maker Faire to bring kids onstage to talk about their favorite books!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Kate DiCamillo

The Secret Cookie Club - Martha Freeman

Shel Silverstein's books of poetry

Dog Man - Dav Pilkey

This episode is supported in art by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan.

What makes a good mystery? We talk to writer Varian Johnson, author of The Parker Inheritance. Kitty Felde, who writes her own mystery series THE FINA MENDOZA MYSTERIES is host.

Its that time of year…summer reading programs at libraries are offering lots and lots of thank you gifts for reading books.

But how hard is it to find a book you'll love? No worries. We went out the the City of Stem/LA Maker Faire to ask the experts for their book suggestions.

Cleopatra in Space - Mike Maihack

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Az and the prisoner of azkaban- J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - J.K. Rowling

The Skull - John Klassen

Dragon Girls - Maddy Mara

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

The Ogress and the Orphans - Kelly Barnhill 

Percy Jackson - Rick Riordan

We'll have a list of everybody's favorite book at our website bookclubforkids.org. And if you have a favorite book, you can be on the show, too. Just give us a call at 424-209-2285 and tell us your first name, the city where you live, the name of your favorite book, and why you love it. That number again is 424-209-2285.

And if you're looking for a good mystery set inside the uS Capitol, check out StATE OF THE UNION by Kitty Felde. It just got a five star review from Forward Clarion, which called Fina an "intelligent and precocious heroine who uses her critical thinking skills and keen observational senses to suss out information on the Chickcharney and the other mysteries in her daily life."

And now you can get the Spanish version of State of the Union called Estado de la Union, translated by Jorge Flores Gonzales. And available now from Chesapeake Press, wherever great books are sold.

This episode is supported in part by a grant from the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan.

It's not too late to catch up on your summer reading. But the conundrum is always: what do I read next? We have some answers from members of the Junior Librarian Commmitee at Scripps Middle School in Michigan. In fact, we turn the microphone over to librarian Lauren Dulmage who asks our favorite question: what's your favorite book?

Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

Refugee - Alan Gratz

Six Crimson Cranes - Elizabeth Lim

The Land of Stories - Chris Colfer

Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland

We'll have a list of everybody's favorite book at our website bookclubforkids.org. And if you have a favorite book, you can be on the show, too. Just give us a call at 424-209-2285 and tell us your first name, the city where you live, the name of your favorite book, and why you love it. That number again is 424-209-2285.

And on a purely selfish note: my Fina Mendoza Mystery novel STATE OF THE UNION just got a five star review from Forward Clarion, calling the book a "delightful mystery novel with a message of unity and cooperation." 

And now you can get the Spanish version of State of the Union called Estado de la Union, translated by Jorge Flores Gonzales. Both books are now available wherever great books are sold.

We talk to Newbery Award winning writer Christopher Paul Curtis about where "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963" came from and why he finally quit his day job. Kitty Felde is host.