The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PRESCOTT - The Prescott Public Library is offering up a way for community members to make friends and get noses in good books with its second year of book club.

Book club will meet once a month, for the first time at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the library.

Amy Rosenberg, the branch supervisor, said the first book to kick off the year will be "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. At the first meet­ing, the group will decide on the rest of the books members will read and set a meeting schedule, she said.

Rosenberg began this book group for the first time last winter and she said there was a solid turnout of about five or more people. There had been a book club previously in the library's history.

"They had one for a while and it kind of petered out," she said. "We will see how this goes."

Anyone is welcome to join book club. The books will be at high school level reading, Rosenberg said. There is no cost to join and the library will make sure there are plenty of copies of the book the club is reading. Even snacks will be provided at the first meeting and the club will meet monthly until the summer.

"It was just too hard to meet in the summer (last year)," she said.

The reason Rosenberg picked Lee's "To Kill A Mock­ingbird" started out simple.

"We just had a whole bunch of copies," she said with a laugh.

But she added the group should enjoy it because it's a classic and a great book to read again. Rosenberg said many have already read it, but it's a book readers get some­thing new out of each time through.

The group typically has about one full month to read the selected book. Even if book club members don't finish the whole book, Rosen­berg said she wants members to come to the monthly meet­ing anyway because they can still contribute to the discus­sion.

Rosenberg will find discus­sion questions on the book to lead the meeting but they'll also talk about any questions club members had about the book or how they reacted to it emotionally.

"It's just a casual conversa­tion about anything that comes up with us," she said.

She expects that after the group reads "To Kill A Mock­ingbird," the discussion will be about racism, the South and the time period the book is set in.

For people who like to read, they shouldn't miss this club, Rosenberg said. She added that she's a librarian and can talk about books all day.

"I really enjoy the social interaction and having people coming into the library," she said.

And for those who don't read that often, the book club could be a great way to get them into reading. Plus, it's fun, she added.

Also coming up at the library is a presentation on its World Book Encyclope­dia collection online. This presentation will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 6 at the library. Rosenberg believes parents, especially those of home­schooled children, should come to see what a great resource the library has in the encyclopedia and how to use it.

Story time for preschool- aged children is held each Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at the library. Children can enjoy a story and craft.

Finally, the library is look­ing for a group of local teens who would be interested in providing some feedback as to how they use the library and what kinds of services they would like.

For more information about book club or any of these ac­tivities, contact Rosenberg at 509-849-2411.