Teen Group: More than a Book

Good company and good conversations! Join us each month for a lively discussion for teens 13-18. We meet on the third Monday of each month. February is an exception due to President's Day. The book itself is optional. We will discuss the book some, but we will also discuss books in general, genres, movies, current events: any topic is fair game. The book is just a jumping off point. We will also have a craft or technology device to explore and play with.

Books will be provided by the La Center Casino Charitable Foundation for the first 10 to sign up. If you would like to read the book, just let a staff member at the library know you would like a copy.

This month, join us for a discussion of Soldier Boy by Keely Hutton.

The book begins with the story of Ricky Richard Anywar, abducted at age fourteen in 1989 to fight with Joseph Kony's rebel army in Uganda’s decades-long civil war. Ricky is trained, armed, and forced to fight government soldiers alongside his brutal kidnappers, but never stops dreaming of escape.

The story continues twenty years later, with a fictionalized character named Samuel, representative of the thousands of child soldiers Ricky eventually helped rehabilitate as founder of the internationally acclaimed charity Friends of Orphans.

Working closely with Ricky himself, debut author Keely Hutton has written an eye-opening book about a boy’s unbreakable spirit and indomitable courage. Beginning in Africa amidst the horrors of civil war, his is a story that is as uplifting as it is heartwrenching.