Displaying both these books and the diverse collection of readers to be found within Smoky is a large purpose of the shelf’s introduction, but its main focus is to bring attention to books that appeal to the multitude of demographics found within the school as noticed by its attendees. “[It’s] kids recommending books to kids,” Club sponsor and librarian Kyle Harmon said. “You know what you like,”

Club member Amara Guss (11) poses with her book recommendation, Orson Scott Card’s ‘Ender’s Game’. “I think it’s really just [an] interesting exploration of right and wrong and duty and lies and how they all kind of fit together and it’s also just really interesting, like futuristic sci-fi kind of world,” Guss said.

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon is recommended by Oliver Hanover (10). “[I chose this book] because I think that it like really shows the inside of an autistic kid’s head or like, [a] part of the spectrum,” Hanover said. “It also shows how people demonize autism and how they think it’s like, ‘Oh you’re just like a bad person’. Or like, you just act out randomly when it’s kind of just a defense mechanism,”

Emily Fuina (9) shows off ‘Endgame’ by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton as her book club recommendation. “I just thought it was really cool how the reader could follow along and try to solve the puzzle before the actual like, characters,” Fuina said. “And I just thought it was very interesting,”