Book clubs engage incarcerated youth

Teens at the Juvenile Treatment Center in South Lake Tahoe are doing more than sitting around.

Lynne Brosch and Rich Fischer of Friends of the South Lake Tahoe Public Library have been doing book groups on Monday nights with incarcerate youth.

This program began in September for the girls with the reading of “The House on Mango Street”. Next it was “Age of Miracles”.

Some of the other books include “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime”, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie”, “So.B.It” and “Perilous”.

Brosch wants to provide a variety of genres to cater to the girls’ interests. The biggest challenge has been to find used books in paperback for a reasonable price.

Books read in book group must be limited in violence, sexually explicit material, promotion of drug or alcohol abuse, and vampire stories are also frowned upon.

A boys’ reading group led by Fischer has just begun.

Friends of the Library has donated funds to the purchase of books for the reading group as well as many other titles requested for free reading, along with dictionaries and other reference materials for the school classrooms in the center.

Information about making a donation of either books or financial assistance is available at the library, 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe. Look for the Wishing Tree and choose a book title to donate or write a check or leave cash.