Events

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry*

"In this sweeping history, Barry explores how the deadly confluence of biology (a swiftly mutating flu virus that can pass between animals and humans) and politics (President Wilson's all-out war effort in WWI) created conditions in which the influenza virus thrived, killing more than 50 million worldwide and perhaps as many as 100 million in just a year. Barry captures the sense of panic and despair that overwhelmed stricken communities and hits hard at those who failed to use their power to protect the public good. He also describes the work of the dedicated researchers who rushed to find the cause of the disease and create vaccines." 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Jerusalem by Goncalo M. Tavares*

Taking place during one night in an unnamed city, the story—which
follows a doctor, his ex-wife, her lover, their son and a killer pimp,
among others—propels itself mainly through flashbacks relayed in short,
choppy chapters and subchapters. Mylia, the ex-wife for whom everything
was about herself, goes tumbling through the streets looking for a
church, but instead finds a series of odd and dangerous predicaments.
Most of what we learn about Mylia comes from memories of her stay at the
Georg Rosenberg Asylum, disturbing, even for healthy people or a luxury
hotel for the mentally ill, depending on whom you ask. Her ex-husband,
famed researcher Theodor Busbeck, is revealed via his institution and
reactions to Mylia; theirs is a frightening if realistic relationship,
though the other characters feel less than realized.

Receive 10% off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

"Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in this exquisite novel. Narrated by the Housekeeper, the characters are known only as the Professor and Root, the Housekeepers 10-year-old son, nicknamed by the Professor because the shape of his hair and head that remind the Professor of the square root symbol. A brilliant mathematician, the Professor was seriously injured in a car accident and his short-term memory only lasts for 80 minutes. He can remember his theorems and favorite baseball players, but the Housekeeper must reintroduce herself every morning, sometimes several times a day. The Professor, who adores Root, is able to connect with the child through baseball, and the Housekeeper learns how to work with him through the memory lapses until they can come together on common ground, at least for 80 minutes. In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton*

"The work presents a picture of upper-class New York society in the late
19th century. The story is presented as a kind of anthropological study
of this society through references to the families and their activities
as tribal. In the story Newland Archer, though engaged to May Welland, a
beautiful and proper fellow member of elite society, is attracted to
Ellen Olenska, a former member of their circle who has been living in
Europe but who has left her husband under mysterious circumstances and
returned to her family's New York milieu. May prevails by subtly
adhering to the conventions of that world. The novel was awarded a
Pulitzer Prize."

Receive 10% off when your order your
reading group book from The Book Works.
We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their
book group books from us in exchange for our dazzling hospitality.
Thanks.

* Author WILL NOT be present.

April 1865 by Jay Winik*

April 1865 analyzes the Civil War showing that there was nothing inevitable about the end of the Civil War, from the fall of Richmond to the surrender at Appomattox to the murder of Lincoln. Winik's vivid imagery makes the reader feel as if they were there, witnessing the events occurring. 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner*

"A beautiful account of a boy's attempt to reconcile his Alaskan wilderness
experience with modern society. Abe Hawcly came to Alaska in search of
his bush-pilot father, became enraptured with the wilderness, then moved
there with his wife to live in a sod igloo and subsist on his hunting
skills while he pursued his painting. Soon disenchanted with isolation
and hardship, his wife abandoned him, leaving him to rear and educate
their three children. Abe's youngest child, known by his Iñupiaq name,
Cutuk, grows to manhood and learns to hunt, gaining an intimate
knowledge of the frozen tundra. Eventually, Cutuk's brother, Jerry,
escapes to Fairbanks, and his sister, Iris, attends college and becomes a
teacher. Meanwhile, torn between two cultures, Cutuk chafes under
discrimination as a white in the midst of Native Americans; he is
deprived of both rights and respect by the locals. He also develops a
profound curiosity about the city, but once he makes it to Anchorage, he
is bewildered and confused by urban slang and modern mores. His
attempts to reconcile himself to his own race fail dismally as he is
drawn back to the north and the values inherent in the wildernes."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet*

"Intense and riveting, it is a mystery, a tale of passion, and a drama
about resistance fighters in the Netherlands during World War II. The
story unfolds in parallel narratives, most told by an omniscient
narrator describing the resistance struggle, and fewer chapters as a
narrative told by 15-year-old Tamar, the granddaughter of one of the
resistance fighters. The locale and time shift between Holland in 1944
and '45 and England in 1995. The constant dangers faced by the
resistance fighters as well as their determination to succeed in
liberating their country from German occupation come vividly to life.
Dart, Tamar, and Marijke are the main characters in this part of the
book. Their loyalty to one another and the movement is palpable though
love and jealousy gradually enter the story and painfully change the
dynamics. Other characters jeopardize the safety of the group and
intensify the life-threatening hazards they face. Peet deftly handles
the developing intrigue that totally focuses readers. After her beloved
grandfather commits suicide, modern-day Tamar is determined to
undercover the mystery contained in a box of seemingly unrelated objects
that he has left for her."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye*

"Clarence, a white man, has been shipwrecked and stranded on the coast of Africa. Brimful of self-importance, he demands to see the king, but the king has just left for the south of his realm. Traveling through an increasingly phantasmagoric landscape in the company of a beggar and two roguish boys, Clarence is slowly stripped of his pretensions, until he is sold as a slave to the royal harem. But in the end Clarence’s bewildering journey is the occasion of a revelation, as he discovers the image, both shameful and beautiful, of his own strange humanity in the alien figure of the king."

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald*

"The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and
certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz
Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the
spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place
in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby
embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding
obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly*

"A charming and inventive story of a child struggling to find her identity at the turn of the 20th Century. As the only girl in an uppercrust Texas family of seven children, Calpurnia, 11, is expected to enter young womanhood with all it's trappings of tight corsets, cooking, and handiwork. Unlike other girls her age, Callie is most content when observing and collecting scientific specimens with her grandfather.Callie's mother, believing that a diet of Darwin, Dickens, and her grandfather's influence will make Callie dissatisfied with life, set her on a path of cooking lessons, handiwork improvement, and an eventual debut into society. Callie's confusion and despair over her changing life will resonate with girls who feel different or are outsiders in their own society."

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

Nana Cracks the Case! by Kathleen Lane*

"Nana is not your ordinary grandma. She never wears cloppy shoes, drinks prune juice, or worries about slippery surfaces. Nana would much rather join the circus, work as a backhoe operator, or maybe become a detective. Which is exactly what happens in this very funny chapter book. When Nana answers an ad in the local newspaper for a detective, she arrives at the police department just in time to investigate the theft of one entire case of delicious Yumdums candy. Can one little old lady find a way to save the day and stop the candy theif from striking again?"

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

Nonfiction book group, Moday April 26, 7:00 pm, Lost City of Z

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison*

"In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking
honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her
illness, and its paradoxical benefits. This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a
combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. Jamison's ability to live fully within
her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our
particular burdens may be."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson*

Niall Ferguson makes a strong, compelling case for the development of money and banking as a catalyst for the advancement of civilization. The Ascent of Money demonstrates how our current fiscal meltdown fits into the bigger historical picture and laments humanity's perennial inability to learn from this history. 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa*

"Narrated by the Housekeeper, the characters are known only as the
Professor and Root, the Housekeepers 10-year-old son, nicknamed by the
Professor because the shape of his hair and head remind the Professor of
the square root symbol. A brilliant mathematician, the Professor was
seriously injured in a car accident and his short-term memory only lasts
for 80 minutes. He can remember his theorems and favorite baseball
players, but the Housekeeper must reintroduce herself every morning,
sometimes several times a day. The Professor, who adores Root, is able
to connect with the child through baseball, and the Housekeeper learns
how to work with him through the memory lapses until they can come
together on common ground, at least for 80 minutes. In this gorgeous
tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the
characters for a short while, then closes the shade. Snyder—who also
translated Pool—brings a delicate and precise hand to the
translation."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The
Book Works is teaming up with educators from Connected Parenting to offer a book club (with pizza!) that
fosters a love of reading and also helps to develop strong communication
skills.

The boys will read Masterpiece,
by Elise Broach.  

This workshop has two main features:

1.
Boys connect with a book -
they use their curiosity and imagination
to explore themes and character development. They are encouraged to
think deeply about how elements of the story
connect with their own thoughts and experiences. The boys read one book
across the 4-week program (tba).

2. Boys connect with each other- the literacy
discussion is used as a platform for building
confidence and enriching communication
skills: listening, asking questions, offering and soliciting opinions,
responding to and respecting the thoughts and ideas of others, and
sharing speaking time.

Dates:
Monday evenings in June from 5:30-6:45 pm: June 7, 14, 21, and 28. Each session will start with
pizza and soft drinks.
Participants:
Boys currently in 3rd or 4th grade. Minimum 10 participants.  
Instructors: Connected
Parenting Coaches Rebecca Lindsay and Kelly Parisa will guide
the book group. Rebecca is also a 3rd Grade teacher at The Children's
School, La Jolla. Kelly is also a behavior and learning specialist.
Fee: $100 per child for the
four-week program (20% discount for siblings). Includes a copy of the
book club book, and pizza and soft drinks at each session.
Registration:
Please reserve a place for your child by pre-paying at The Book Works
(by check please, to Connected Parenting).

Questions? Please contact Rebecca
Lindsay (rebeccalindsay@connectedparenting.com).

Connected Parenting is
a highly regarded professional organization founded by
Canadian social worker and therapist Jennifer Kolari. Connected
Parenting helps families develop and maintain strong bonds, and helps
children develop strategies for navigating through their
ever-complicated social networks. The team teaches parenting courses and
provides workshops to schools and organizations across the U.S. and
Canada.

Keep your eyes out for
notices about other upcoming children's activities -- we are putting
together additional children's book groups and are developing a fabulous
Summer Saturdays program. More soon!

JOIN
THE BOOK WORKS CHILDREN'S MAILING LIST

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis*

This sense of exasperated, pointless yearning adds further
depth to the book's central theme by subtly introducing the element of
class. Though much more prevalent a matter in British society fifty
years ago, class and Jim never clash head-on. It is nonetheless a
struggle and the symptoms of the struggle are all the more dramatic for
it being unspoken. Beneath Jim's furious lack of faith in his own
attempts to resign himself to a life he's supposed to deserve lies his
genuine belief that there are some things beneath him and a whole bunch
more to which he must never aspire.

What I'm trying to get at is that, in Jim, Amis has built
something deeply true. Like all great art he has preserved a moment in
time, but here the external chronology (ie fifties Britain) is
overshadowed by the capture of the internal, which is to say the
Western male in his mid-twenties, angry, confused, inconvenienced with
intelligence. Both Amis' achievements affect the other, but it is the
latter which is the lasting glory.

Receive 10% off
your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

After reading "The Great Gatsby" last month, the Classics Book Group will now watch the 1974 rendition starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow on Thursday, June 10th at 6:30pm.

$2.00 fee for electronic set-up. Popcorn welcome!

Older Boys and Girls Book Group (5th and 6th Grades)
10:00-10:45am

The Wednesday
Wars by Gary Schimdt

Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY
WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy’s
mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who
must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the
rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like
Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of
William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to
worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be
on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But
how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with?
A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing
autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow
tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds
Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the
courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.

Younger Boys and Girls Book Group (3rd and 4th Grades)
11:00-11:45am

Comet in
Moominland: Can Moominland save his beloved valley? by Tove Jansson
and Elizabeth Portch

When Moomintroll learns that a comet will be passing by, he and his
friend Sniff travel to the Observatory on the Lonely Mountains to
consult the Professors. Along the way, they have many adventures, but
the greatest adventure of all awaits them when they learn that the comet
is headed straight for their beloved Moominvalley.

The
Book Works is teaming up with educators from Connected Parenting to offer a book club (with pizza!) that
fosters a love of reading and also helps to develop strong communication
skills.

The boys will read Masterpiece,
by Elise Broach.  

This workshop has two main features:

1.
Boys connect with a book -
they use their curiosity and imagination
to explore themes and character development. They are encouraged to
think deeply about how elements of the story
connect with their own thoughts and experiences. The boys read one book
across the 4-week program (tba).

2. Boys connect with each other- the literacy
discussion is used as a platform for building
confidence and enriching communication
skills: listening, asking questions, offering and soliciting opinions,
responding to and respecting the thoughts and ideas of others, and
sharing speaking time.

Dates:
Monday evenings in June from 5:30-6:45 pm: June 7, 14, 21, and 28. Each session will start with
pizza and soft drinks.
Participants:
Boys currently in 3rd or 4th grade. Minimum 10 participants.  
Instructors: Connected
Parenting Coaches Rebecca Lindsay and Kelly Parisa will guide
the book group. Rebecca is also a 3rd Grade teacher at The Children's
School, La Jolla. Kelly is also a behavior and learning specialist.
Fee: $100 per child for the
four-week program (20% discount for siblings). Includes a copy of the
book club book, and pizza and soft drinks at each session.
Registration:
Please reserve a place for your child by pre-paying at The Book Works
(by check please, to Connected Parenting).

Questions? Please contact Rebecca
Lindsay (rebeccalindsay@connectedparenting.com).

Connected Parenting is
a highly regarded professional organization founded by
Canadian social worker and therapist Jennifer Kolari. Connected
Parenting helps families develop and maintain strong bonds, and helps
children develop strategies for navigating through their
ever-complicated social networks. The team teaches parenting courses and
provides workshops to schools and organizations across the U.S. and
Canada.

Keep your eyes out for
notices about other upcoming children's activities -- we are putting
together additional children's book groups and are developing a fabulous
Summer Saturdays program. More soon!

JOIN
THE BOOK WORKS CHILDREN'S MAILING LIST

Descartes' Bones by Russell Shorto*

"On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, the Frenchman René
Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time,
was buried after a cold and lonely death far from home. Sixteen years
later, the French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed
Descartes' bones and transported them to France. The great controversy Descartes ignited continues to our era: where
Islamic terrorists spurn the modern world and pine for a culture based
on unquestioning faith; where scientists write bestsellers that
passionately make the case for atheism; where others struggle to find a
balance between faith and reason.
Descartes’ Bonesis a
historical detective story about the creation of the modern mind, with
twists and turns leading up to the present day—to the science museum in
Paris where the philosopher’s skull now resides and to the church a few
kilometers away where, not long ago, a philosopher-priest said a mass
for his bones."

Receive 10% off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Kuraj by Silvia di Natale*

"Based on a true story, Di Natale's expansive debut chronicles the
journey of Naja, a Mongol girl taken from the Central Asian steppes to
Cologne, Germany, during WWII. This absorbing novel encompasses the far-flung war story that precedes the young
heroine's relocation, the details of her alienation in Europe and the
cultural history of her nomadic people. When her birth father, Ul'an, a
Tunshan khan, joins the Germans in protest of Stalin's collectivization,
he meets Lt. Günther Berger, with whom he lays siege to Stalingrad as
part of the Turkestan battalion. After the Russians capture and imprison
the two men, they escape and return to the steppes, only for Ul'an to
die. At Ul'an's behest, Günther adopts the 10-year-old Naja, and with
his wife, Siglinde, raises her in his bourgeois German postwar
household. The plot line is original and the writing lyrical, but the
number of shifts involved in Naja's journey back to her own identity
will leave less diligent readers behind."

Receive 10% off your reading group
book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book
Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL
NOT be present.

The collection that established O'Connor's reputation as one of the American masters of the short story. The volume contains the celebrated title story, a tale of the murderous fugitive The Misfit, as well as
"The Displaced Person" and eight other stories.

We'll discuss "A Good Man is Hard to Find" plus one other short story of your choice by Flannery O'Connor.

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The
Book Works is teaming up with educators from Connected Parenting to offer a book club (with pizza!) that
fosters a love of reading and also helps to develop strong communication
skills.

The boys will read Masterpiece,
by Elise Broach.  

This workshop has two main features:

1.
Boys connect with a book -
they use their curiosity and imagination
to explore themes and character development. They are encouraged to
think deeply about how elements of the story
connect with their own thoughts and experiences. The boys read one book
across the 4-week program (tba).

2. Boys connect with each other- the literacy
discussion is used as a platform for building
confidence and enriching communication
skills: listening, asking questions, offering and soliciting opinions,
responding to and respecting the thoughts and ideas of others, and
sharing speaking time.

Dates:
Monday evenings in June from 5:30-6:45 pm: June 7, 14, 21, and 28. Each session will start with
pizza and soft drinks.
Participants:
Boys currently in 3rd or 4th grade. Minimum 10 participants.  
Instructors: Connected
Parenting Coaches Rebecca Lindsay and Kelly Parisa will guide
the book group. Rebecca is also a 3rd Grade teacher at The Children's
School, La Jolla. Kelly is also a behavior and learning specialist.
Fee: $100 per child for the
four-week program (20% discount for siblings). Includes a copy of the
book club book, and pizza and soft drinks at each session.
Registration:
Please reserve a place for your child by pre-paying at The Book Works
(by check please, to Connected Parenting).

Questions? Please contact Rebecca
Lindsay (rebeccalindsay@connectedparenting.com).

Connected Parenting is
a highly regarded professional organization founded by
Canadian social worker and therapist Jennifer Kolari. Connected
Parenting helps families develop and maintain strong bonds, and helps
children develop strategies for navigating through their
ever-complicated social networks. The team teaches parenting courses and
provides workshops to schools and organizations across the U.S. and
Canada.

Keep your eyes out for
notices about other upcoming children's activities -- we are putting
together additional children's book groups and are developing a fabulous
Summer Saturdays program. More soon!

JOIN
THE BOOK WORKS CHILDREN'S MAILING LIST

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif*

"Pakistan's ongoing political turmoil adds a piquant edge to this
fact-based farce spun from the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed
General Zia, the dictator who toppled Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of
recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto. Two parallel assassination plots
converge in Hanif's darkly comic debut: Air Force Junior Under Officer
Ali Shigri, sure that his renowned military father's alleged suicide was
actually a murder, hopes to kill Zia, who he holds responsible.
Meanwhile, disgruntled Zia underlings scheme to release poison gas into
the ventilation system of the general's plane. Supporting characters
include Bannon, a hash-smoking CIA officer posing as an American drill
instructor; Obaid, Shigri's Rilke-reading, perfume-wearing barracks pal,
whose friendship sometimes segues into sex; and, in a foreboding cameo,
a lanky man with a flowing beard, identified as OBL, who is among the
guests at a Felliniesque party at the American ambassador's residence."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Older Girls' Book Group 10:00-10:45 AM

Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

Starting sixth grade at a new school is never easy, especially when your
name is Hero. Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, Hero isn’t
at all interested in this literary connection. But when she’s told by
an eccentric neighbor that there might be a million dollar diamond
hidden in her new house and that it could reveal something about
Shakespeare’s true identity, Hero is determined to live up to her name
and uncover the mystery.

Younger Girls' Book Group 11:00-11:45 AM

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo 

One summer day, Opal goes into a supermarket and comes out with a
scraggly dog that she names Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, her
preacher father finally tells her ten things about her absentee mother,
and Opal makes lots of unusual friends in her quirky Florida town. And
because of Winn-Dixie, Opal grows to learn that friendship -- and
forgiveness -- can sneak up on you like a sudden storm. Now available in
a delightful tie-in edition, here is the original Newbery Honor-winning
book that inspired the major motion picture.

The
Book Works is teaming up with educators from Connected Parenting to offer a book club (with pizza!) that
fosters a love of reading and also helps to develop strong communication
skills.

This workshop has two main features:

1.
Boys connect with a book -
they use their curiosity and imagination
to explore themes and character development. They are encouraged to
think deeply about how elements of the story
connect with their own thoughts and experiences. The boys read one book
across the 4-week program (tba).

2. Boys connect with each other- the literacy
discussion is used as a platform for building
confidence and enriching communication
skills: listening, asking questions, offering and soliciting opinions,
responding to and respecting the thoughts and ideas of others, and
sharing speaking time.

Dates:
Monday evenings in June from 5:30-6:45 pm: June 7, 14, 21, and 28. Each session will start with
pizza and soft drinks.
Participants:
Boys currently in 3rd or 4th grade. Minimum 10 participants.  
Instructors: Connected
Parenting Coaches Rebecca Lindsay and Kelly Parisa will guide
the book group. Rebecca is also a 3rd Grade teacher at The Children's
School, La Jolla. Kelly is also a behavior and learning specialist.
Fee: $100 per child for the
four-week program (20% discount for siblings). Includes a copy of the
book club book, and pizza and soft drinks at each session.
Registration:
Please reserve a place for your child by pre-paying at The Book Works
(by check please, to Connected Parenting).

Questions? Please contact Rebecca
Lindsay (rebeccalindsay@connectedparenting.com).

Connected Parenting is
a highly regarded professional organization founded by
Canadian social worker and therapist Jennifer Kolari. Connected
Parenting helps families develop and maintain strong bonds, and helps
children develop strategies for navigating through their
ever-complicated social networks. The team teaches parenting courses and
provides workshops to schools and organizations across the U.S. and
Canada.

Keep your eyes out for
notices about other upcoming children's activities -- we are putting
together additional children's book groups and are developing a fabulous
Summer Saturdays program. More soon!

JOIN
THE BOOK WORKS CHILDREN'S MAILING LIST

"As entertaining as it is thoughtful....Few contemporary writers have
Weatherford's talent for making the deep sweep of history seem vital and
immediate."
-- THE WASHINGTON POST

After 500 years, the world's huge
debt to the wisdom of the Indians of the Americas has finally been
explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford.
He
traces the crucial contributions made by the Indians to our federal
system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine,
agriculture, architecture, and ecology, and in this astonishing,
ground-breaking book takes a giant step toward recovering a true
American history.

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Classics Book Group Movie Night will be viewing the 1957 film 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda.

$3 for technical support.

A History of Writing by Steven Roger Fischer*

"Fischer traces the history of writing with intensity and pleasure as he explores the astonishing tectonic shifts and catastrophes that have gone to make up the geography of the written
world. The history of writing is as full of dramatic accelerations as it is of
intriguing gaps, mysterious vanishings and tragic obliterations. Fischer's book is at its most fascinating when probing the darker
intimacy of writing and power."

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Home by Marilynne Robinson*

"Marilynne Robinson returns to the small town in Iowa where her Pulitzer
Prize–winning novel, Gilead, was set. Home is an entirely
independent novel that is set concurrently in the same locale, this time
in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames’s closest
friend. Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to
care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of
the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and
trying to make peace with a past littered with ongoing trouble and
pain. Jack, a bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a
job, is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his
traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton’s most beloved child.
Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory
and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake.  Their
story is one of families, family secrets, and the passing of the
generations, about love, death, faith, and healing. "It is a book
unsparing in its acknowledgement of sin and unstinting in its belief in
the possibility of grave.  It is at once hard and forgiving, bitter and
joyful, fanatical and serene.  It is a wild, eccentric radical work of
literature that grows out of the broadest, most fertile, most familiar
native literary tradition.  What a strange old book it is.”—The
New York Times Book Review

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off
your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.