Friday, November 27, 2015

Online Book Club - Conversion - Week Two Discussion!

Good Morning!

We hope you all enjoyed reading the second section of Conversion by Katherine Howe.




It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.

First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.

Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...


In pages 63 - 124, we learn that more girls in Colleen's school have fallen mysteriously ill and that the school seems to be keeping secrets about whether or not they truly understand what is going on. Colleen has also begun receiving strange text messages from someone who will not reveal themselves.  In the seventeen hundreds, Ann has begun telling her story to the Reverend, revealing that Betty and Abby were faking their illness...

Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts:
1. What type of illness do you think the girls have in Colleen's school?
2. Who do you think is the person secretly messaging Colleen? What is the connection to The Crucible?
3. What do you think has caused Ann to suddenly start confessing to the Reverend?

Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, BUT...NO SPOILERS please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Online Book Club - Conversion - Week One Discussion!

Good Morning!

We hope you all enjoyed reading the first section of Conversion by Katherine Howe.



It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.

First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.

Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...


In pages XI - 61, we jump between two different time periods, the seventeen hundreds and 2012. In Salem, a young woman named Ann wants to confess her sins and in Danvers, a high school senior named Colleen finds herself in a school plagued by something strange that is making her classmates sick.  

Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts:
1. This book has a connection to the Salem Witch Trials - what do you already know about that time?
2. What do you think about the type of school that Colleen and her friends attend? Would you like to go to that type of high school?
3. How do you think that Ann and Colleen might be connected?

Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, BUT...NO SPOILERS please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead. 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Stay Connected With Us While We’re Closed!

Stay Connected With Us While We’re Closed!

Join One of
WSPL’s ONLINE BOOKCLUBS!

How Do WSPL’s Online Book Clubs Work?

We’ve picked two books, one for adults and one for older teens, that we’ll all read together and discuss online. Simply read the pages suggested each week and then join us for the online discussion of that section.    

Week One: Oct. 19—24
Week Two: Oct. 26—31
Week Three: Nov. 2—7
Week Four: Nov. 9—14
Week Five: Nov. 16—21
Week Six: Nov. 23—28

On the last day of each week, we will post a link from the Library’s Website and Facebook page to our online blogs where the discussions will take place. You can discuss the events of the book so far, your favorite characters, and even try to figure out what might happen next… 
BUT NO SPOILERS PLEASE
If you read ahead, don’t give away what happens!!

Questions begin tomorrow, November 20th... Talk to you soon!