Middle School Book Club, Fri., Oct. 17, 3:30 pm

Colorful books neatly arranged on black shelves in a library.

Join Middle School Book Club to discuss our reading, participate in book-related activities, and enjoy some after school snacks. This month’s book is Westfallen, by Ann and Ben Brashares. Copies are available at the circulation desk. 

Friday, October 17
3:30 pm



Westfallen is action-packed middle grade alternate history thriller that asks what it would be like to wake up in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.

Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school, things can change fast—Frances has become an emo art-girl, Lukas has gone full sports bro, and Henry has gone sort of nowhere. But when a dead gerbil brings them together again, the three ex-friends make an impossible discovery: a radio buried in Henry’s backyard that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town…on the same street…in the same backyard…seventy-nine years in the past.

The kids in 1944 want to know all about the future: are there jetpacks? Laser guns? Teleportation? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the war their dads and brothers are fighting in. Henry and his friends are cautious—they’ve all seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—but figure there’s no harm in telling them a little bit, just enough so they can stop worrying so much. And, at first, everything seems fine. Nothing’s changed—well, nothing so big they can’t contain it, anyway.

Until Henry, Frances, and Lukas wake up on May 6, 2024, to an America ruled by Nazis. They changed history. And now it’s up to them to change it back.

Middle School Book Club is recommended for students in grades 7-8. 

Registration is required. 

Colorful chart illustrating five types of literacy.