Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club

The Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club

 Come get to know other 9-12 year old girls and their moms at this monthly book club at Books Inc. Laurel Village. Named after our first selection, The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy, this club meets once each month on Sunday afternoon at 1PM. Check the calendar for specific dates. Don't worry, it'll be just us girls!

Books Inc. in Laurel Village
3515 California Street
San Francisco
415-221-3666

Book club selections are also available as audiobooks via Libro.fm! Click here to download and listen.


Pre-Order Now Badge
The Secret Language of Birds By Lynne Kelly Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781524770273
Availability: Coming Soon - AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
Published: Delacorte Press - April 9th, 2024

May 2024 pick for The Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club


Staff Pick Badge
Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson By Ann E. Burg, Ms. Sophie Blackall (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Ann E. Burg, Ms. Sophie Blackall (Illustrator)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781338883381
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Scholastic Press - March 5th, 2024

April 2024 pick for The Wild Girls Mother Daughter Book Club


Staff Pick Badge
The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum By Lisa Yee, Dan Santat (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Lisa Yee, Dan Santat (Illustrator)
$14.99
ISBN: 9781984830296
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - January 2nd, 2024

March 2024 book club pick for the Wild Girls Book Club at books Inc. Laurel Village


Staff Pick Badge
The Dreamatics By Michelle Cuevas Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780593532225
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Rocky Pond Books - September 12th, 2023

February 2024 pick for the Wild Girls Books Club 


Staff Pick Badge
Hope in the Valley By Mitali Perkins Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780374388515
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) - July 11th, 2023

January 2024 pick for The Wild Girls Book Club 


Staff Pick Badge
Lasagna Means I Love You By Kate O'Shaughnessy Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781984893871
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers - February 21st, 2023

WILD GIRLS END-OF-YEAR EXTRAVAGANZA pick at Books Inc. Laurel Village meeting Saturday, November 11 at 6:30pm


Staff Pick Badge
Ghost Book By Remy Lai Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781250810434
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks - August 15th, 2023

October 2023 Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club Pick 


Staff Pick Badge
The Lost Library By Rebecca Stead, Wendy Mass Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250838810
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Feiwel & Friends - August 29th, 2023

September 2023 Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club Pick 


Staff Pick Badge
The First Magnificent Summer By R.L. Toalson Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781665925495
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Aladdin - May 30th, 2023

August 2023 pick for Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club


Turn the Tide By Elaine Dimopoulos Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780358538158
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Clarion Books - March 8th, 2022

May 2022 Book Selection:

Twelve-year-old Mimi Laskaris is inspired by the Wijsen sisters of Bali to turn her focus from classical piano to a new obsession: forming a grassroots, kid-led movement to ban plastic bags in her new island home in Florida. Written in accessible verse, this timely story of environmental activism has extensive back matter for aspiring activists. With a foreword by Melati Wijsen, cofounder of Bye, Bye Plastic Bags.

Mimi has a plan for her seventh grade year: play piano in the Young Artists competition at Carnegie Hall with her best friend, Lee; enjoy a good old Massachusetts snow day or two; and work in her community garden plot with her dad. But all that changes when her family’s Greek restaurant falls on hard times.

The Laskarises’ relocation to Wilford Island, Florida, is a big key change for Mimi. Where does she fit in in this shell-covered paradise without Lee? Mimi is taken by the beauty of the island and alarmed by the plastic pollution she sees on the beaches.

Then her science teacher, Ms. Miller, shows her class a TED Talk by Melati and Isabel Wijsen. At ages twelve and ten, they lobbied to ban single-use plastic bags on their home island of Bali—and won. Their story strikes a chord for Mimi. She’s twelve.

Could a kid like her make such a big change in a place that she’s not yet sure feels like home? Can she manage to keep up with piano, her schoolwork, and activism? And does confident and flawless Carmen Alvarez-Hill really want to help her with the movement?

In this story of environmental activism, friendship, and self-discovery, Mimi figures out what’s truly important to her, and takes her place in the ranks of real-life youth activists like the Wijsen sisters, Greta Thunberg, and Isra Hirsi.


When Winter Robeson Came By Brenda Woods Cover Image
$16.99
Unavailable, Out of Stock, or Out of Print
ISBN: 9781524741587
Published: Nancy Paulsen Books - January 11th, 2022

February 2022 Book Selection:

The whole world seems to transform during the summer of 1965, when Eden’s cousin from Mississippi comes to visit her in L.A. just as the Watts Riots erupt, in this stirring new novel by Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods.

When Eden’s cousin Winter comes for a visit, it turns out he’s not just there to sightsee. He wants to figure out what happened to his dad, who disappeared ten years earlier from the Watts area of L.A. So the cousins set out to investigate together, and what they discover brings them joy—and heartache. It also opens up a whole new understanding of their world, just as the area they’ve got their sights on explodes in a clash between the police and the Black residents. For six days Watts is like a war zone, and Eden and Winter become heroes in their own part of the drama. Eden hopes to be a composer someday, and the only way she can describe that summer is a song with an unexpected ending, full of changes in tempo and mood--totally unforgettable.


Brave in the Woods By Tracy Holczer Cover Image
$16.99
Unavailable, Out of Stock, or Out of Print
ISBN: 9781984813992
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers - January 5th, 2021

August 2021 Book Selection:

Critically acclaimed Tracy Holczer returns with a heartrending tale about a girl descended from the Grimm brothers who sets out to break what she thinks is a family curse.

Twelve-year-old Juni is convinced her family is cursed. Long ago, her ancestors, the Grimm Brothers, offended a witch who cursed them and their descendants to suffer through their beloved fairy tales over and over again--to be at the mercy of extreme luck, both good and bad. Juni fears any good luck allotted to her family she used up just by being born, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night with the horrible feeling like antlers are growing from her head, she knows something is wrong. The next day she learns her older brother Connor has gone missing during his tour in Afghanistan.

Her family begins grieving his loss in their own ways but Juni can't help but believe that his disappearance means the family curse has struck again. Juni is convinced the only way to bring her brother home is to break the family curse and so she sets out on a quest to do just that.

From Charlotte Huck honoree Tracy Holczer comes a stunning new novel about the power of stories, the enormity of grief, and the brilliancy of hope.


The Beatryce Prophecy By Kate DiCamillo, Sophie Blackall (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kate DiCamillo, Sophie Blackall (Illustrator)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781536213614
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Candlewick - September 28th, 2021

January 2022 Book Selection:

A 2021 People Magazine Best Books of Fall Winner!

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo and two-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall comes a fantastical meditation on fate, love, and the power of words to spell the world.

We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home.

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils them all--for the king of the land seeks just such a girl, and Brother Edik, who penned the prophecy himself, knows why.

And so it is that a girl with a head full of stories--powerful tales-within-the-tale of queens and kings, mermaids and wolves--ventures into a dark wood in search of the castle of one who wishes her dead. But Beatryce knows that, should she lose her way, those who love her--a wild-eyed monk, a man who had once been king, a boy with a terrible sword, and a goat with a head as hard as stone--will never give up searching for her, and to know this is to know everything. With its timeless themes, unforgettable cast, and magical medieval setting, Kate DiCamillo's lyrical tale, paired with resonant black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall, is a true collaboration between masters.


Frankie & Bug By Gayle Forman Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781534482531
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Aladdin - October 12th, 2021

November 2021 Book Selection:

In the debut middle grade novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman comes a poignant and powerful coming-of-age story that follows a young girl and her new friend as they learn about family, friendship, allyship, and finding your way in a complicated world.

It's the summer of 1987, and all ten-year-old Bug wants to do is go to the beach with her older brother and hang out with the locals on the boardwalk. But Danny wants to be with his own friends, and Bug's mom is too busy, so Bug is stuck with their neighbor Philip's nephew, Frankie.

Bug's not too excited about hanging out with a kid she's never met, but they soon find some common ground. And as the summer unfolds, they find themselves learning some important lessons about each other, and the world.

Like what it means to be your true self and how to be a good ally for others. That family can be the people you're related to, but also the people you choose to have around you. And that even though life isn't always fair, we can all do our part to make it more just.


Staff Pick Badge
Lotería By Karla Arenas Valenti, Dana Sanmar (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Karla Arenas Valenti, Dana Sanmar (Illustrator)
$16.99
ISBN: 9780593176962
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers - September 7th, 2021

October 2021 Book Selection:

The turn of a card could change your destiny in this captivating middle grade adventure based on the Lotería card game and perfect for fans of Coco. While searching for her missing cousin, a young girl is transported to a mythical kingdom, becoming entangled in a perilous game of chance.

"A magical, philosophical tale rooted in Mexican lore." --School Library Journal, starred review

In the hottest hour of the hottest day of the year, a fateful wind blows into Oaxaca City. It whistles down cobbled streets and rustles the jacaranda trees before slipping into the window of an eleven-year-old girl named Clara. Unbeknownst to her, Clara has been marked for la Lotería.

Life and Death deal the Lotería cards but once a year, and the stakes could not be higher. Every card reveals a new twist in Clara's fate--a scorpion, an arrow, a blood-red rose. If Life wins, Clara will live to a ripe old age. If Death prevails, she'll flicker out like a candle.

But Clara knows none of this. All she knows is that her young cousin Esteban has vanished, and she'll do whatever it takes to save him, traveling to the mythical Kingdom of Las Pozas, where every action has a price, and every choice has consequences. And though it seems her fate is sealed, Clara just might have what it takes to shatter the game and choose a new path.

Karla Arenas Valenti weaves an adventure steeped in magic and mythology--gorgeously illustrated by Dana Sanmar--exploring the notion of free will in a world where fate holds all the cards.


Katie the Catsitter: (A Graphic Novel) By Colleen AF Venable, Stephanie Yue (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Colleen AF Venable, Stephanie Yue (Illustrator)
$13.99
ISBN: 9781984895639
Availability: In Stock Now - Click Title to See Store Inventory. Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed.
Published: Random House Graphic - January 5th, 2021

September 2021 Book Selection:Calling all Raina Telgemeier fans! Introducing an irresistible new middle-grade graphic novel series about growing up, friendship, heroes, and cats (lots of cats!)--perfect for fans of GutsAwkward and Real Friends (not to mention anyone who loves cats!)

Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead while her best friends are all away at camp--something that's way out of Katie and her mom's budget, UNLESS Katie can figure out a way to earn the money for camp herself. But when Katie gets a job catsitting for her mysterious upstairs neighbor, life get interesting. First, Madeline has 217 cats (!) and they're not exactly . . . normal cats. Also, why is Madeline always out EXACTLY when the city's most notorious villain commits crimes?! Is it possible that Katie's upstairs neighbor is really a super villain? Can Katie wrangle a whole lot of wayward cats, save a best friendship (why is Beth barely writing back? And who's this boy she keeps talking about?!), AND crack the biggest story in the city's history? Some heroes have capes . . . Katie has cats!


Prairie Lotus By Linda Sue Park Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781328781505
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Clarion Books - March 3rd, 2020

June 2021 Book Selection:

Prairie Lotus is a powerful, touching, multilayered book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father's shop, and making at least one friend. Acclaimed, award-winning author Linda Sue Park has placed a young half-Asian girl, Hanna, in a small town in America's heartland, in 1880. Hanna's adjustment to her new surroundings, which primarily means negotiating the townspeople's almost unanimous prejudice against Asians, is at the heart of the story. Narrated by Hanna, the novel has poignant moments yet sparkles with humor, introducing a captivating heroine whose wry, observant voice will resonate with readers. Afterword.


When You Trap a Tiger: (Newbery Medal Winner) By Tae Keller Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781524715700
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - January 28th, 2020

March 2021 Book Selection:

Would you make a deal with a magical tiger? This uplifting story brings Korean folklore to life as a girl goes on a quest to unlock the power of stories and save her grandmother.

Some stories refuse to stay bottled up...

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal--return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni's health--Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice...and the courage to face a tiger.


The Sea in Winter By Christine Day Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062872043
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Heartdrum - January 5th, 2021

February 2021 Selection: In this evocative and heartwarming novel for readers who loved The Thing About Jellyfish, the author of I Can Make This Promise tells the story of a Native American girl struggling to find her joy again.

It's been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions.

Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can't understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she's dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up.

But soon, Maisie's anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean?


One Time By Sharon Creech Cover Image
$16.99
Unavailable, Out of Stock, or Out of Print
ISBN: 9780062570741
Published: HarperCollins - September 8th, 2020

January 2021 Selection: From Sharon Creech, Newbery Medal winner and New York Times bestselling author, comes a powerful coming-of-age story of a girl who discovers the endless possibilities her future may hold, with help from a brilliant teacher and a boy with a generous smile.

Perfect for fans of Love That Dog, this tale is about the transformative power of imagination and the journey to becoming who you are meant to be. This middle grade novel is an excellent choice for tween readers in grades 5 to 6, at home or at school. It's a fun way to keep your child entertained and engaged while not in the classroom.

Gina Filomena has been told she has an overactive imagination. With her bright clothing and artistic spirit, she's always felt different from the other kids in her class. That is, until she meets her new neighbor, a mysterious boy named Antonio with a wide, welcoming smile.

Add in a creative new teacher, Miss Lightstone, and a world of possibilities opens up for Gina, Antonio, and their classmates. With the help of Antonio and Miss Lightstone, will Gina find the answers to the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be?


Emmy in the Key of Code By Aimee Lucido Cover Image
$16.99
Unavailable, Out of Stock, or Out of Print
ISBN: 9780358040828
Published: Versify - September 24th, 2019

April 2020 Selection: In this innovative middle grade novel, coding and music take center stage as new girl Emmy tries to find her place in a new school. Perfect for fans of the Girls Who Code series and The Crossover.

In a new city, at a new school, twelve-year-old Emmy has never felt more out of tune. Things start to look up when she takes her first coding class, unexpectedly connecting with the material--and Abigail, a new friend--through a shared language: music. But when Emmy gets bad news about their computer teacher, and finds out Abigail isn't being entirely honest about their friendship, she feels like her new life is screeching to a halt. Despite these obstacles, Emmy is determined to prove one thing: that, for the first time ever, she isn't a wrong note, but a musician in the world's most beautiful symphony.


Parked By Danielle Svetcov Cover Image
$17.99
Unavailable, Out of Stock, or Out of Print
ISBN: 9780399539039
Published: Dial Books - February 4th, 2020

March 2020 Selection: For fans of Rebecca Stead and Joan Bauer comes a scrappy, poignant, uplifting debut about family, friendship, and the importance of learning both how to offer help and how to accept it.

"A big-hearted novel with characters I wish were my friends in real life." --Gennifer Choldenko, author of the Al Capone at Alcatraz series
Jeanne Ann is smart, stubborn, living in an orange van, and determined to find a permanent address before the start of seventh grade. Cal is tall, sensitive, living in a humongous house across the street, and determined to save her. Jeanne Ann is roughly as enthusiastic about his help as she is about living in a van. As the two form a tentative friendship that grows deeper over alternating chapters, they're buoyed by a cast of complex, oddball characters, who let them down, lift them up, and leave you cheering. Debut novelist Danielle Svetcov shines a light on a big problem without a ready answer, nailing heartbreak and hope, and pulling it off with a humor and warmth that make the funny parts of Jeanne Ann and Cal's story cathartic and the difficult parts all the more moving.


Queen of the Sea By Dylan Meconis, Dylan Meconis (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Dylan Meconis, Dylan Meconis (Illustrator)
$24.99
ISBN: 9781536204988
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Walker Books US - June 25th, 2019

February 2020 Selection: Cult graphic novelist Dylan Meconis offers a rich reimagining of history in this beautifully detailed hybrid novel loosely based on the exile of Queen Elizabeth I by her sister, Queen Mary.

 

When her sister seizes the throne, Queen Eleanor of Albion is banished to a tiny island off the coast of her kingdom, where the nuns of the convent spend their days peacefully praying, sewing, and gardening. But the island is also home to Margaret, a mysterious young orphan girl whose life is upturned when the cold, regal stranger arrives. As Margaret grows closer to Eleanor, she grapples with the revelation of the island's sinister true purpose as well as the truth of her own past. When Eleanor's life is threatened, Margaret is faced with a perilous choice between helping Eleanor and protecting herself. In a hybrid novel of fictionalized history, Dylan Meconis paints Margaret's world in soft greens, grays, and reds, transporting readers to a quiet, windswept island at the heart of a treasonous royal plot.


Rat Rule 79: An Adventure By Rivka Galchen, Elena Megalos (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Rivka Galchen, Elena Megalos (Illustrator)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781632060990
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Restless Books - September 24th, 2019

January 2020 Selection: From the New Yorker "20 Under 40" author of Atmospheric Disturbances comes a brain-twisting adventure story of a girl named Fred on a quest through a world of fantastical creatures, strange logic, and a powerful prejudice against growing up.

Fred and her math-teacher mom are always on the move, and Fred is getting sick of it. She's about to have yet another birthday in a new place without friends. On the eve of turning thirteen, Fred sees something strange in the living room: her mother, dressed for a party, standing in front of an enormous paper lantern--which she steps into and disappears. Fred follows her and finds herself in the Land of Impossibility--a loopily illogical place where time is outlawed, words carry dire consequences, and her unlikely allies are a depressed white elephant and a pugnacious mongoose mother of seventeen.
With her new friends, Fred sets off in search of her mom, braving dungeons, Insult Fish, Fearsome Ferlings, and a mad Rat Queen. To succeed, the trio must find the solution to an ageless riddle.
Gorgeously illustrated and reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Rivka Galchen's Rat Rule 79 is an instant classic for curious readers of all ages.


All the Impossible Things By Lindsay Lackey Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781250202864
Availability: Backordered-Could Take 2-4Weeks
Published: Roaring Brook Press - September 3rd, 2019

November 2019 Selection: A bit of magic, a sprinkling of adventure, and a whole lot of heart collide in All the Impossible Things, Lindsay Lackey's extraordinary middle-grade novel about a young girl navigating the foster care system in search of where she belongs.

"Wise and wondrous, this is truly a novel to cherish." --Katherine Applegate, New York Times-bestselling author of Wishtree

An Indies Introduce Selection

Red's inexplicable power over the wind comes from her mother. Whenever Ruby "Red" Byrd is scared or angry, the wind picks up. And being placed in foster care, moving from family to family, tends to keep her skies stormy. Red knows she has to learn to control it, but can't figure out how.

This time, the wind blows Red into the home of the Grooves, a quirky couple who run a petting zoo, complete with a dancing donkey and a giant tortoise. With their own curious gifts, Celine and Jackson Groove seem to fit like a puzzle piece into Red's heart.

But just when Red starts to settle into her new life, a fresh storm rolls in, one she knows all too well: her mother. For so long, Red has longed to have her mom back in her life, and she's quickly swept up in the vortex of her mother's chaos. Now Red must discover the possible in the impossible if she wants to overcome her own tornadoes and find the family she needs.