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Book of the Month
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
by G. Neri
Our setting is 1994 Chicago, where a young kid tells us about the cold blooded shooting of a girl on his block. There is a citywide manhunt for the killer, and yet the shooter is no man. He is eleven-year-old Robert "Yummy" Sandifer. Nicknamed for his sweet tooth, Yummy is a classmate of our narrator, when he actually bothers to come to school. Yummy would prefer to be out on the streets stealing and hustling other kids for their lunch money. Yet this criminal is still very much a child, sleeping with a teddy bear and eating candy bars.
When news of the murder breaks, our narrator tries to understand both sides of his peer: the killer and the kid. Yummy was both a victim and a monster, lost and scared in a world that cares little for him, and desperate to find his place. He was even desperate enough to end a life without thinking of the consequences.
Many comic books are about fantasy and escape, but this one is as real as it gets. Its depiction of a complicated character defies simple generalizations like "good" and "evil" and could generate a lot of class discussion.
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Teacher Toolbox 
Book Group in a Bag is the perfect way to reserve copies of a single book for a class lesson, afterschool activity, or book club. Not only have we added more titles in the past year, there are also more searching options to identify the right book for you and your students. Click here to see our great selection for High School readers.
Each bag checks out for 6 weeks and includes 10 copies of the title requested. You can browse for titles by genre or age level. The Book Group Reservation Calendar will allow you to see what has been reserved and what is still available. Found one that you would like to get? You can request your bag a full year in advance!
This service is available to all CRRL cardholders, so be sure act fast and reserve your Book Group in a Bag early!
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Mock Sibert Awards
Join us at the Headquarters Library on Thursday, January 19 from 4-5 for a discussion of our personal choices for contenders for the Sibert, as well as a mock awards ceremony.
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author and illustrator of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year.
Click here to see our list of nominated titles.
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