Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Book Club Schedule
Zion Church Classroom
September 2025 – May 2026; First Friday, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Coordinator: Peggy Ingalls (330)-284-3518
2025
September 5 – Ruth Reinoehl, When Crickets Cry, Charles Martin
A shared journey…in a sleepy Southern town, a seven-year-old…lemonade stand…the ugly scar on her chest…stranger drains his cup…boat he’s restoring…bread truck careening…miracles lurk…around unexpected corners.
October 3 – Sue Whalen -- Astor: The Rise and Fall of An American Fortune, Anderson Cooper
1883 German immigrant…John Jacob Astor…beaver trapping business…grew into an empire…Manhattan real estate…generations…ruled Gilded Age New York…political and cultural life…Titanic…2009 son…defrauding his elderly mother...
November 7 – Jayne Schrader --The First Ladies, Marie Benedict & Christopher Murphy
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt…awestruck by daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod…refuses to back down as white supremacists…shared beliefs in women’s rights…power of education…fast friends…collaborate on civil rights.
December 5 – Peggy Ingalls -- The Teacher of Warsaw, Mario Escobar
Based on a true story…1939 Warsaw, 60-year-old Janusz……respected…Jewish orphanage…lives altered…one man’s capacity to love…drastic measures…shield the children…tiny army of love…prepare the children…resilience of the human spirit.
January 9*– Laura Thompson -- A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
1922 Moscow…Count Rostov, aristocrat…tribunal…sentenced to house arrest Metropol, a grand hotel…erudition and wit…never worked…lives in an attic…witness to tumultuous decades…entry into larger world of emotional maturity.
February 6 – Linda Gotthardt -- The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis
Based on Luke 4:13…masterpiece…brilliantly fleshes out Christ’s Passion…courted controversy…depicting a Christ far more human than the one seen in the Bible...gloriously divine but earthy and human… subject to fear, doubt, and pain.
March 6 – Johanna Henderson – Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, J. Ryan Stradal
Mariel needs a break…Ned…having an identity crisis…beloved restaurant bleeding cash…mother Florence…holed up at church…lasting rift between mother and daughter…devastating tragedy…will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?
April 3 – Carol Rossbach -- My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
A family torn apart…Anna…countless surgeries…so her sister, Kate…can fight leukemia…preimplantation bone marrow match…sue her parents…rights to her own body…perhaps fatal…what it means… a good person…morally correct?
May 1 – Kay Reiss -- The Great Bridge, David McCullough
Years around 1870…building Brooklyn Bridge…longest suspension bridge…greed, corruption…vision…optimism, heroism…lives lost…odds overwhelming…social climate of the time…remarkable family…great personal cost…Emily’s dedication.
“May Bonus Book” – Cindy Bagocious -- Junkyard Wonders, Patricia Polacco (Grades 3-5)
Based on true events…celebrates influence of a teacher…Trisha devastated…new school…special class known as “the junkyard” …teacher divides into tribes…sense of unity…visit a local junkyard…science fair…school bully…. the Junkyard Wonders.
*Second Friday
