Beyond the Book is a new book club for 3rd through 5th graders! Each meeting will feature a book selection that everyone reads in advance, and then we will meet via Zoom to talk about the book and go beyond the text to learn more about the people, places, and issues we read about.

The book for the July 15th meeting will be Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lại. This book and its audiobook are available for immediate download from Hoopla.

A Zoom link will be sent the day before the class begins to those who register.

About the book:

This remarkable and bestselling novel from Thanhha Lai, author of the National Book Award–winning and Newbery Honor Book Inside Out & Back Again, follows a young girl as she learns the true meaning of family.

A California girl born and raised, Mai can't wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War. Mai's parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the language, she doesn't know the geography, the local customs, or even her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.

Perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Linda Sue Park, Listen, Slowly is an irresistibly charming and emotionally poignant tale about a girl who discovers that home and culture, family and friends, can all mean different things.