Girlfriends Read

Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw has a lot to deal with–like having the “funniest last name in the universe,” for one.  Then there are her clothes (polyester, sewn by Gram), her difficulty speaking up, and her status at school as “nobody special.”

A squeaking sound outside her bedroom leads eleven-year-old Nell to a baby squirrel abandoned in her yard.  Nell and her younger brothers end up saving two wild squirrels that appear to be orphaned.  With the help of some online research and a new friend, Nell learns how to care for the squirrels, but she also learns that she should not try to do this on her own.  Still, if Nell has the time and devotion, why shouldn’t she raise the squirrels?  She loves them, and they need her—don’t they?  Nell is willing to do anything to save her new pets, even if it involves telling a few lies….

One thing Darby has never dreamed of being – not until Evette suggests it – is a newspaper girl who writes down the truth for all to read. In no time, and with more than a little assistance from Evette, Darby and her column in the Bennettsville Times are famous in town and beyond. But is Marlboro County, South Carolina, circa 1926, ready for the truth its youngest reporter has to tell?

Girlfriends Read this summer will read and discuss the new novel written by Valerie Hobbs, THE LAST BEST DAYS OF SUMMER.  Set in present day California, 12 year old Lucy Crandall spends a week with her Grams at her Crescent Lake cabin.  Lucy’s week turns into a roller coaster of surprises!  Join the book club.  Get a copy of this book at the youth desk and register for the summer library program, too.