Book Club Kits for Teens

Essentially everything you need to get started with your own book discussion group is available from the Durham County Library.

Each Book Club Kit contains 10 copies of one title and the handy tote bag. Book discussion guides along with information about the author can be found next to each title below (click on the pdf icon).

Look for a kit at your location, or request a kit directly from the online catalog.

A Book Club Kit is checked out to a single group member who is responsible for all of the materials (except print outs). The group may keep the kit for 6 weeks.

Book Club Kits are made possible by the Friends of the Durham Library.

Titles Available

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Frankie Landau-Banks a geeky girl with an unassuming nature sets out to make changes at her elite boarding school. Frankie is brazen, passionate and questions everything and she just might be a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way.

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Bobby is a typical urban New York City teenager -- impulsive, eager, restless. For his sixteenth birthday he cuts school with his two best buddies, grabs a couple of slices at his favorite pizza joint, catches a flick at a nearby multiplex, and gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever.

Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun by Geoffrey Canada
In this candid and riveting memoir, Canada relives a childhood in which violence stalked every street corner.

Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi
After Maddy’s parents’ divorce, she’s stuck starting over at a new high school. Friendless and nicknamed Freak Girl, Manga-loving artist Maddy finds refuge in the interactive online game Fields of Fantasy.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn
It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who’s just walked in to his band’s show.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 first published in 1967. The book follows two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs who are divided by their socioeconomic status.

Paper Towns by John Green
One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak is about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshmen due to reasons later revealed in the book. This stunning novel takes you on the journey of a young girl finding her voice and she is both courageous and heart-breaking.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Clay Jensen doesn’t want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead, he reasons. Her secrets should be buried with her. Then Hannah’s voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes—and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

Tyrell by Coe Booth
Tyrell is a young, African-American teen who can't get a break. He's living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. His father's in jail. His girlfriend supports him, but he doesn't feel good enough for her - and seems to be always on the verge of doing the wrong thing around her. There's another girl at the homeless shelter who is also after him, although the desires there are complicated. Tyrell feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his father's footsteps?

Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Uglies is a 2005 science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery upon reaching age 16. It tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society's enforced conformity.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape-and to survive.

We Beat the Streets by Sampson Davis et al.
The Three Doctors, as the subjects of this inspirational book call both themselves and their nonprofit foundation, grew up in a tough neighborhood in Newark, NJ. The three made a teenage pact to leave their impoverished New Jersey neighborhood, attend medical school, and become doctors. Their story is profoundly inspirational, personal and intimate.

Last Update: July 27, 2011