Let's Booktalk: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (Austen 1).

Elizabeth Bennett is the second born daughter in a family of five daughters. In a time where only the eldest male of the family may inherit, her only hope is to marry a man of wealth. However, she will not marry for less than a man of intelligence and love, much to her mother's disapproval.

Enter Mr. Darcy, a rich young man with a stern and solitary disposition of great prejudice. He would separate his best friend Mr. Bingley from Jane Bennett, Elizabeth's sister, as well as propose marriage to Elizabeth in spite of her inferior birth. Things do not bode well for him in love, unless Elizabeth can somehow swallow her pride and he his prejudice.

"It was necessary to laugh when she would rather have cried...most cruelly mortified...by...Mr. Darcy's indifference...perhaps, instead of his seeing too little, she might have fancied too much" (338).

Let's Booktalk: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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Would you give legal advice for only a payment of potatoes? Would defend a man in a town where the color of your skin determined you guilt? Would you stand up against an angry mob whose only intention was to kill? Would you allow a man who committed murder in defense of children to go free?

Atticus Finch would do all this and more as his daughter Scout narrates her story of life as a child in Maycomb, Alabama during the depression era. Scout's story of her adventures with brother Jim will show the world through a child's eyes. She will witness events that would show her a world divided by racism and money, and how doing the right thing, is not always legal, as well as how the law turns a blind eye on doing the wrong thing. Her story of only one year from her childhood will show how Scout will influence and be influenced by the people and the events surrounding her father and his pursuit for justice and raising his children to do the right thing even as you stand alone.

Let's Booktalk: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Evil has a name, Edward Hyde.

Victorian London in the 19th century was a place of excitement and division. One did not associate with those outside of your social group. You most certainly would not leave your fortune and estate to one as nefarious and indescribably horrid as Mr. Edward Hyde.

Yet, this is exactly as the respected and good natured Dr. Henry Jekyll has done. Worrying his closest friends, who have to stand by as he struggles through an unknown trouble. They are only left with more questions than answers. Who is Edward Hyde? And what strange hold does he have over Dr. Jekyll?

"I stole through the corridors, a stranger in my own house; and coming to my room, I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde" (Stevenson 83).

Let's Booktalk: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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"And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, unwired nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy" (202).

Every school has the brainy kid, the leader, the followers, the clown, and the level headed kid who tries to get  everyone to think sensibly. What if they were the only people around? Would their society be fun, good, strong, crazy? Who would set the rules and uphold them? What if people didn't agree? With everything to consider, it is a wonder adults get anything done.

Shipwrecked on an island, with no adults to tell them what to do and how to act, 11 boys will be left to create there own rules of society. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. They will have to work together to survive, but they are still children. So the question remains, who would be the Lord of the Flies?

Let's Booktalk: The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

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“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort” (Tolkien 3).

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, who likes nothing more than to tend his garden, smoke his pipe, and be left in peace. Gandalf the Grey is a wizard, who likes nothing more to make sure justice is served, Middle Earth is safe, and that people and creatures great and small are a part of the world not just merely living in it.

When Gandalf enters into Bilbo Baggins’ life, it will change it from a peaceful existence to an adventure shared. He will share his adventures with 13 dwarves, on a mission to reclaim their home, fight trolls, wargs, goblins, elves, dragons, and more. Bilbo’s story of going “There and Back Again” will go beyond his life, into the lives of others in Middle Earth yet to come.