Join us for our all-new monthly book club, celebrating Connecticut’s own kid’s book award, for kids in grades 4-6! Books are available for pickup starting September 3 with a special Nutmeg Book Club Kit that includes activities, stickers, bookmarks, and other goodies related to the book!

Nutmeg nominees are chosen by a committee of school media specialists, public librarians, and reading teachers, as well as a small selection of student representatives in the appropriate age range for that reading material. Each spring, students are allowed to cast their votes for the nominee they think should win the Nutmeg Award.

Criteria includes the age of the book, and require that the books be well-written, with strong characterization, vivid setting, striking language, a well-constructed plot, and plausible conclusion. Nutmeg nominees may cover sensitive topics. For more information about how nutmeg books are selected, please see https://www.nutmegaward.org/about/faqs

This month we are reading A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga. Read the book on your own and then join us at the library for a fun discussion and related activity. Our discussion is on September 24th from 4-5 PM.

Essex Library programs are free and open to the public.

Space is limited, registration is required.

About the Book: A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga (Harper Collins, 2022) is a middle-grade science fiction adventure that follows a Mars rover on its journey from first awareness to Mars and back. The book was an instant New York Times bestseller and a 2022 best book of the year for The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and IndiGo. Warga is the author of several books for middle-grade and teen readers, including the award-winning titles Other Words For Home and The Shape of Thunder. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history, and after graduation, she taught sixth-grade science, which inspired her to begin writing stories for middle graders. She currently resides in Chicago and teaches in the MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.