Book Discussion Kits
Book Discussion Kit HomeSno-Isle Libraries and the Sno-Isle Foundation are proud to offer book discussion kits.
Each kit includes 10 copies of a single title. Resources for book discussions may be found at publishers' websites, bound into some editions of the book, or at www.bookreporter.com or www.readinggroupguides.com (Download a printer friendly list of book kits.)
Find Kits
Search by tag
Animals Awards Bio & Memoir BIPOC Books About Books Coming of Age Crime Family Dynamics Food Historical International LGBTQIA+ Not so Grim Pacific Northwest Poetry Politics Sagas Sci-fi/Fantasy Science & Nature Short (less than 250 pages) Social Justice Society & Culture Timeless Underrepresented Authors Watch It WWII Young Adult
You're viewing items 1-11
Sign in
"On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit . Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit." --Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year
Unbroken
Hillenbrand, Laura"On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit . Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit." --Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year
Sign in
The improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny. At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium--with her three children and nanny in tow--to study art. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists' colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated "belle Americaine." The two begin a fierce love affair--marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness--that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson's own unforgettable tales.
Under the Wide and Starry Sky
Horan, NancyThe improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny. At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium--with her three children and nanny in tow--to study art. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists' colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated "belle Americaine." The two begin a fierce love affair--marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness--that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson's own unforgettable tales.
Sign in
In Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune. A bacha posh (literally translated from Dari as "dressed up like a boy") is a third kind of child - a girl temporarily raised as a boy and presented as such to the outside world. Jenny Nordberg, the reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times , constructs a powerful and moving account of those secretly living on the other side of a deeply segregated society where women have almost no rights and little freedom. The Underground Girls of Kabul is anchored by vivid characters who bring this remarkable story to life: Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice but to turn her fourth daughter Mehran into a boy; Zahra, the tomboy teenager who struggles with puberty and refuses her parents' attempts to turn her back into a girl; Shukria, now a married mother of three after living for twenty years as a man; and Nader, who prays with Shahed, the undercover female police officer, as they both remain in male disguise as adults.
Underground Girls of Kabul, The
Nordberg, JennyIn Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune. A bacha posh (literally translated from Dari as "dressed up like a boy") is a third kind of child - a girl temporarily raised as a boy and presented as such to the outside world. Jenny Nordberg, the reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times , constructs a powerful and moving account of those secretly living on the other side of a deeply segregated society where women have almost no rights and little freedom. The Underground Girls of Kabul is anchored by vivid characters who bring this remarkable story to life: Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice but to turn her fourth daughter Mehran into a boy; Zahra, the tomboy teenager who struggles with puberty and refuses her parents' attempts to turn her back into a girl; Shukria, now a married mother of three after living for twenty years as a man; and Nader, who prays with Shahed, the undercover female police officer, as they both remain in male disguise as adults.
Search for other similar book kits
Awards International Social Justice Society & Culture Young Adult
Sign in
"Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey -- hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day."--Provided by the Publisher
National Book Award
Arthur C. Clarke Award
Andrew Carnegie Medal
Pulitzer Prize
Oprah Book Club
Underground Railroad, The
Whitehead, Colson"Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey -- hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day."--Provided by the Publisher
National Book Award
Arthur C. Clarke Award
Andrew Carnegie Medal
Pulitzer Prize
Oprah Book Club
Sign in
"Set aboard a nineteenth century riverboat theater, this is the moving, page-turning story of a charmingly frank and naive seamstress who is blackmailed into saving runaway slaves on Underground Railroad, jeopardizing her freedom, her livelihood," and a hard-won new life. A novel with distinctive setting full of rich historical details and thorny issues. -publisher description
Underground River, The
Conway, Martha"Set aboard a nineteenth century riverboat theater, this is the moving, page-turning story of a charmingly frank and naive seamstress who is blackmailed into saving runaway slaves on Underground Railroad, jeopardizing her freedom, her livelihood," and a hard-won new life. A novel with distinctive setting full of rich historical details and thorny issues. -publisher description
Sign in
Raised in Indiana by a Union Army surgeon and his wife, former slave Effie returns to New Orleans after the end of the Civil War as a freedwoman. Thanks to her work assisting her adoptive father in his surgery, she has a stomach for gore, so she finds work as an embalmer. Searching for her roots and building an independent life for herself, Effie is pulled into political activism through her attraction to a young politician. This historical novel explores issues of class and race during the Reconstruction Era, and will appeal to readers who love immersive detail.
Undertaker's Assistant, The
Skenandore, AmandaRaised in Indiana by a Union Army surgeon and his wife, former slave Effie returns to New Orleans after the end of the Civil War as a freedwoman. Thanks to her work assisting her adoptive father in his surgery, she has a stomach for gore, so she finds work as an embalmer. Searching for her roots and building an independent life for herself, Effie is pulled into political activism through her attraction to a young politician. This historical novel explores issues of class and race during the Reconstruction Era, and will appeal to readers who love immersive detail.
Sign in
Retiree Harold Fry finds himself at an unexpected crossroads when a letter arrives from an old friend. Queenie Hennessy, writing from hospice care, wishes to bid farewell. Though out of contact for 20 years, Fry embarks on a road trip to visit her, leaving behind an acrimonious marriage and a sleepwalking existence. Readers join the quirky and introspective Harold in a journey of discovery, learning that it's never too late to start living. Poignant and heartwarming, this is sure to inspire discussion on topics including death, friendship, and marriage.
Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The
Joyce, RachelRetiree Harold Fry finds himself at an unexpected crossroads when a letter arrives from an old friend. Queenie Hennessy, writing from hospice care, wishes to bid farewell. Though out of contact for 20 years, Fry embarks on a road trip to visit her, leaving behind an acrimonious marriage and a sleepwalking existence. Readers join the quirky and introspective Harold in a journey of discovery, learning that it's never too late to start living. Poignant and heartwarming, this is sure to inspire discussion on topics including death, friendship, and marriage.
Commonwealth Book Prize Shortlist
American Library Association Notable
Man Booker Longlist
Washington Post Best Book
Booklist Editors' Choice
Sign in
Retiree Harold Fry finds himself at an unexpected crossroads when a letter arrives from an old friend. Queenie Hennessy, writing from hospice care, wishes to bid farewell. Though out of contact for 20 years, Fry embarks on a road trip to visit her, leaving behind an acrimonious marriage and a sleepwalking existence. Readers join the quirky and introspective Harold in a journey of discovery, learning that it's never too late to start living. Poignant and heartwarming, this is sure to inspire discussion on topics including death, friendship, and marriage.
Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The
Joyce, RachelRetiree Harold Fry finds himself at an unexpected crossroads when a letter arrives from an old friend. Queenie Hennessy, writing from hospice care, wishes to bid farewell. Though out of contact for 20 years, Fry embarks on a road trip to visit her, leaving behind an acrimonious marriage and a sleepwalking existence. Readers join the quirky and introspective Harold in a journey of discovery, learning that it's never too late to start living. Poignant and heartwarming, this is sure to inspire discussion on topics including death, friendship, and marriage.
Commonwealth Book Prize Shortlist
American Library Association Notable
Man Booker Longlist
Washington Post Best Book
Booklist Editors' Choice
Sign in
Unsheltered features a dual narrative set in the same New Jersey house more than one hundred years apart. In the 1870s, science teacher Thatcher Greenwood grapples with the controversy over teaching evolution in schools. In the present day, newly laid-off magazine worker Willa Knox struggles with the recession that destroyed her job, her husband’s job, and their comfortable middle-class status. Both families are trying to survive during times of rapid change in an unstable world.
Unsheltered
Kingsolver, BarbaraUnsheltered features a dual narrative set in the same New Jersey house more than one hundred years apart. In the 1870s, science teacher Thatcher Greenwood grapples with the controversy over teaching evolution in schools. In the present day, newly laid-off magazine worker Willa Knox struggles with the recession that destroyed her job, her husband’s job, and their comfortable middle-class status. Both families are trying to survive during times of rapid change in an unstable world.
NPR Best Book
Sign in
"Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, War's Unwomanly Face is Svetlana Alexievich's collection of stories of women's experiences in World War II, both on the front lines, on the home front, and in occupied territories. This is a new, distinct version of the war we're so familiar with. Alexievich gives voice to women whose stories are lost in the official narratives, creating a powerful alternative history from the personal and private stories of individuals. Collectively, these women's voices provide a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of the war." --provided by the publisher
Nobel Prize in Literature (author)
Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
Aleksievich, Svetlana"Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, War's Unwomanly Face is Svetlana Alexievich's collection of stories of women's experiences in World War II, both on the front lines, on the home front, and in occupied territories. This is a new, distinct version of the war we're so familiar with. Alexievich gives voice to women whose stories are lost in the official narratives, creating a powerful alternative history from the personal and private stories of individuals. Collectively, these women's voices provide a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of the war." --provided by the publisher
Nobel Prize in Literature (author)
Sign in
Backman returns to the Swedish village of Beartown in this insightful novel offering humor and emotion alongside grim realism to explore heavy themes like violence, politics, family, and community.
Us Against You
Backman, FredrikBackman returns to the Swedish village of Beartown in this insightful novel offering humor and emotion alongside grim realism to explore heavy themes like violence, politics, family, and community.
LibraryReads Favorite