Bring your lunch, and join us at our meetings to chat about the club's latest book selection.

Meetings are held from noon to 1 p.m. every other month in the Library Conference room.

Directions/parking:

 

 

• See Getting to the Library for directions
• Park in any visitor or unmarked space in the garage at 568 Garden Avenue and sign in at the Public Safety Office at the entrance to the garage.
• Accessible parking is available in the circle drive in the front of the Library.

Book Club Flyer 

 

Upcoming book discussions:

 

March 30, 2020 from 12pm- 1 pm

 

 

 

Solito, Solita (Alone, Alone), shortlisted for the 2019 Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America, is an urgent collection of oral histories that tells—in their own words—the story of young refugees fleeing countries in Central America and traveling for hundreds of miles to seek safety and protection in the United States.

 

 

Fifteen narrators describe why they fled their homes, what happened on their dangerous journeys through Mexico, how they crossed the borders, and for some, their ongoing struggles to survive in the United States. In an era of fear, xenophobia, and outright lies, these stories amplify the compelling voices of migrant youth. What can they teach us about abuse and abandonment, bravery and resilience, hypocrisy and hope? They bring us into their hearts and onto streets filled with the lure of freedom and fraught with violence. From fending off kidnappers with knives and being locked in freezing holding cells to tearful reunions with parents, Solito, Solita’s narrators bring to light the experiences of young people struggling for a better life across the border.

 

 

This collection includes the story of Adrián, from Guatemala City, whose mother was shot to death before his eyes. He refused to join a gang, rode across Mexico atop cargo trains, crossed the US border as a minor, and was handcuffed and thrown into ICE detention on his eighteenth birthday. We hear the story of Rosa, a Salvadoran mother fighting to save her life as well as her daughter’s after death squads threatened her family. Together they trekked through the jungles on the border between Guatemala and Mexico, where masked men assaulted them. We also meet Gabriel, who after surviving sexual abuse starting at the age of eight fled to the United States, and through study, legal support and work, is now attending UC Berkeley.

 

 

Description from publisher, Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1275-solito-solita