No Shelf Control (Grades 4-6 Book Club)

"Other Words for Home" by Jasmine Warga

No Shelf Control welcomes all readers in Grades 4-6! Join us this month in discussing a novel-in-verse from the perspective of Jude, a girl who migrates from Syria to make a new home in the U.S.

Amid the backdrop of a brutal civil war in their homeland of Syria, the family of twelve-year-old Jude makes the crucial decision to send her and her mother to live with relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving her father and brother behind. Jude struggles to adapt to living in a big city and starting school knowing almost no one. She narrates her own story in poetry form, showing us how she encounters stereotypes about being "Middle Eastern" and a new identity as an "Arab American," trying to fit into American culture while also keeping her family's heritage. Author Jasmine Warga has previously been nominated for the Maryland Association of School Libraries' Black-Eyed Susan Award for children's literature, and "Other Words for Home," her first book for middle-grad students, is a Newbery Honor Award winner.

If you are in grades 4, 5 or 6 and love to read and have fun talking about books and characters, No Shelf Control is the place for you! Each month, students read a selected chapter book ahead of time and come to our meeting to discuss the plot, the characters and their relationships to each other, and other elements of a novel such as theme and setting. We also include in each session a game or activity related to the book or reading. Anyone ages 9-12 is welcome any time!

You can borrow a copy of the book (with a specially prepared reading guide just for our group) from the Connie Morella Library; just ask at the Check Out or Information Desks for the March book for No Shelf Control. You can also access the book through either of our two free apps: as an e-book or an e-audiobook on Hoopla; or as an e-book or an e-audiobook on the Libby app or Overdrive website. If you get an e-version, please contact Librarian Jeff for the reading guide (jeffrey.coster@montgomerycountymd.gov). Even if you are not able to finish the reading, please come anyway and see if No Shelf Control might just be the place for you! The book for the May 7 meeting will be handed out at this meeting, and then available to pick up from the Connie Morella Library by anyone who missed it.

Library Program Attendance (both virtual and in the branch) is limited to participants within the suggested age range of the program. Children attending an MCPL program under the age of 8 must be accompanied by an adult. Adults attending a program intended for children must have an accompanying child.

Have questions about this program? Contact the Connie Morella Library at 240-777-0970.

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Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

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