BOOK CLUB BAGS

NEW and Upcoming Book Club Bags

May 2008

The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.

Beneath a Marble Sky.  John Shors.

Shors's spirited debut novel tells the story of the eldest daughter of the 17th-century emperor who built the Taj Mahal. From her self-imposed exile, Jahanara recalls growing up in the Red Fort; the devotion her parents, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, had for each other; and the events that took place during the construction of the fabulous monument to their love.

The Book Thief.  Markus Zusak.

Death meets the book thief, a 9-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger, when he comes to take her little brother, and she becomes an enduring force in his life, despite his efforts to resist her. "I traveled the globe . . . handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity," Death writes. "I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice." As Death lingers at the burial, he watches the girl, who can't yet read, steal a gravedigger's instruction manual. Thus Liesel is touched first by Death, then by words, as if she knows she'll need their comfort during the hardships ahead.

Tuesdays with Morrie.  Mitch Albom.

The best-selling author recounts his weekly visits with a dying teacher who years before had set him straight. It reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past.

New Junior Book Club Bags

(Great for Adult Reading, Too!)

Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Kate DiCamillo.

Edward Tulane is an exceedingly vain, cold-hearted china rabbit owned by 10-year-old Abilene Tulane, who dearly loves him. Her grandmother relates a fairy tale about a princess who never felt love; she then whispers to Edward that he disappoints her. His path to redemption begins when he falls overboard during the family’s ocean journey.

Penny from Heaven.  Jennifer Holm.

Holm’s semiautobiographical story of 1953 Brooklyn. It's the summer Penny Falucci turns 12. Although she lives with her plain, ordinary mother, grandparents, and poodle, Scarlett O'Hare, she spends a lot of time with her deceased father's large, loving Italian-American family as she tries to know the father she can't remember.