A new teen program from Knox County Public Library and UTK’s Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature
Knox County Public Library and the Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature at the University of Tennessee are collaborating on a new book club called Teens Talk Books. This new book club is dedicated to teen literature and will meet quarterly. The public is invited to the inaugural meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 29 at Lawson McGhee Library. Teens Talk Books is free and open to all fans of teen lit including teens (12-17 years), parents and teachers.
This quarter’s selection is the unusual sci-fi novel, Illuminae, written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. The Library has plenty of physical and digital copies of Illuminae available for checkout. Describing the book in an interview the authors said, “It’s a sci-fi mystery/thriller/romance told through a series of hacked documents—IMs, emails, surveillance footage, medical reports, and rantings of an insane artificial intelligence. It’s Battlestar Galactica meets 10 Things I Hate About You… In terms of the content itself, we drew on a huge variety of influences that we both grew up with, from Battlestar Galactica to Firefly to Clarke and Asimov to a pile of our favorite action movies. We were motivated by the chance to introduce these ideas and themes to a new generation of readers, and to continue on in the tradition that inspired us. And while doing all that, we wanted to challenge the conventional idea of what a book should be. Easy, right? . . . right?”
Participants should bring questions and be ready for an in-depth discussion with other teens, teen lit experts and even a retired NASA engineer. The discussion will range from teen life, fiction, and school to battleships, epidemics, and AI (artificial intelligence). One lucky participant will walk away with the door-prize of an author-signed copy of the sequel, Gemina.
Not a sci-fi fanatic? No problem! Members will nominate selections for our Fall book club meeting.
Interested teens, parents and teachers can register in-person the day of or in-advance online at www.knoxlib.org/teen-central
