Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Book Called Heartbreaking

The next selection in our series this year is Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It." In this book, Pelzer describes the severe physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother. Happiness morphs unexpectedly into terror when his mother singles him out and begins to starve him and subject him to torture.

With this selection, we attempt to understand the experiences of those among us who have suffered from abuse. What is most difficult to comprehend is his mother's reason for such cruelty.

Join us for the discussion of this famous and disturbing account on Wednesday, October 13.

Some stats:

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, in 2006 there were 3.6 million reported cases of child abuse; approximately 905,000 of those cases were substantiated. In that same year, 1530 children died as a result of abuse. Over 70% of those who died were between the ages of 0 and 3 years.

Thought question:

Why is it important to be aware that some people in America are being abused or have survived abuse?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The First Book of the Year!

Our first selection this year is Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

From Alexie's site:

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school. This heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written tale, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character’s art, is based on the author’s own experiences and chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he seems destined to live.

The book is funny and sad and truly speaks to those of us who at one time or another felt we had to turn our backs on our heritages or families to live our own dreams.

If you like this book, you may also like an earlier Book Club selection My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok.

Discussion meeting for Absolutely True. . .: Wednesday, September 8, after school, in the library.