September: Dreamsleeves by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

Welcome back to book club, Smithies! After a long hiatus, a lot of summer craziness, and a bit of rearranging, we have returned! As you know, our dear Alyssa is no longer at the Smith Public Library. She went to Plano, land of....opportunity and gray office buildings? I'm not sure what Plano is the land of. But anyway. I, Kelsey Sidwell, shall be leading you forth into book club with a less-than-stern hand and a forgetful mind. It will be great. I promise.

So, a bit about me maybe? I like coffee. And scarves. And cats. And lots and lots of books. Some of my favorites include Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, Graceling and Fire, the Throne of Glass books, the awkwardly titled His Fair Assassin series (the books are *much* better than the lame series title) and on and on and on. A couple of my favorite "adult" reads are Lev Grossman's "Magicians" series and Erin Morganstern's The Night Circus. If you have not read The Night Circus, RUN! Read it now!

But I digress.

Dreamsleeves. 

Aislinn is a girl with a lot of dreams, but due to family issues (caused mostly by her hard-drinking father), there's a lot standing in her way. While she should be enjoying the summer with friends, Aislinn is kept under lock and key and put in charge of her younger siblings. The average girl might give up, but not Aislinn. A person, she says, should write their dreams on their sleeve, putting them out there for the world to see, because there's a good chance that someone might come along and help you make your dream come true. What begins as a plea for help for her father to stop drinking, turns into a spark that has the whole community making their own dreamsleeves. At times heartbreaking, Dreamsleeves is also surprising, powerful, and luminously hopeful. Everyone will see a little of themselves in Aislinn, a girl with talent, ambition, and big dreams.

 Now, I know you may be thinking "This sounds super cheesy." But you are wrong. I thought the same thing and was pleasantly surprised! And the idea is preeeeeetty cool. Write down what you want and wear it on your arm and someone might help you out with it, because
why not? It worked for Aislinn.

So in honor of book club tonight, I am going to write down my "dreamsleeves."

• A cheeseburger.
• The recipe for the peanut butter cookies at Alamo Drafthouse.
• For my bathroom to get painted tomorrow FINALLY without any issues.
• A safe trip to see my family in Ohio this weekend. 
• Maybe another cheeseburger. Or some fries. 

BOOK CLUB IS AT 6PM TONIGHT

IN THE STORYTIME ROOM

Be there or be rectangular.