These titles were added to Book Group in a Bag in 2011:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it. Published in 2008, 321 pages.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett  Together, three seemingly different women in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi join to work on a project that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town—to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it’s really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South. Despite the terrible risks they will have to take, and the sometimes humorous boundaries they will have to cross, these three women unite with one intention: hope for a better day. Published in 2009, 531 pages.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave A haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers–one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.  Published in 2009, 271 pages.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), lives in Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, and thatched cottages. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? Published in 2010, 368 pages.

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore Two Kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. Published in 2010, 272 pages.

Push: a novel (retitled: Precious as a movie adaptation) by Sapphire Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem’s casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and radical teacher, we follow her on a journey of education and enlightenment as she learns not only how to write about her life, but how to make it truly her own for the first time. Published in 1995, 141 pages.

Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf  Remember who you are, Milada. Remember where you are from. Always. Milada’s grandmother says these words on the night the Nazi soldiers come to their home in Czechoslovakia…the Nazis take Milada away from her family and send her to a Lebensborn center in Poland. There she is told she fits the Aryan ideal: her blond hair and blue eyes are the right color; her head and nose, the right size. She is renamed Eva and trained to become the perfect German citizen, to be the hope of German’s future—and to forget that she was ever a Czech girl named Milada. Inspired by real events, this fascinating novel sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Nazi agenda and movingly portrays a young girl’s struggle to hold on to her identity and her hope in the face of a regime intent on destroying both. This is a children’s novel, but there is plenty to discuss for readers of all ages. Published in 2007, 200 pages.

The library plans to add 5 additional titles later in 2011. Suggestions and feedback are always welcome, please email bookkits@tscpl.org.