Rediscovered Books and River Bend Bookshop are proud to co-host authors Beth Vrabel and Carrie Firestone in conversation.

In this emotional and riveting middle grade novel, When Giants Burn, The Misfits meets Hatchet, two unlikely friends fly off on an adventure they hope will set them free—only to learn the value of what they left behind.

Gerty has a secret: She’s building an airplane. She wants to join the Civil Air Patrol, where pilots as young as twelve help with disaster relief—but she knows her parents would be outraged. They’re survivalists who raised her to be independent and only enrolled her in middle school to show her why they’ve decided to opt out of society. Still, Gerty is determined to protect her beloved Pando, a nearby ancient aspen forest.

Hayes has some problems of his own, but they aren’t the kind that can be hidden under a tarp. His mom is back from prison, but he’s not sure he’ll ever stop missing the mom she used to be. One thing is certain: He’s never going to be like her. He follows the rules. But Gerty is the only person at school Hayes doesn’t hate, so after she tells him about her hidden plane, he helps her finish it.

When wildfires break out nearby, Gerty wants to fly to Pando and make sure it’s safe—and Hayes is tempted by the chance to escape everything on the ground. But the duo will soon realize that they can’t escape their roots—and that holding onto those connections might be the real key to survival.

The First Rule of Climate Club, companion to Dress Coded, an eighth grader starts a podcast on climate activism and rallies her friends to create lasting change in their local community and beyond—now available in paperback!

When Mary Kate Murphy joins a science class focused on climate change, she becomes aware of lots of things she never noticed before about her small suburban town:
 
Kids waste tons of food at school without a second thought.
 
Parents leave their cars running in the pick-up lane all the time.
 
People buy lots of clothes they don’t really need.
 
Some of her friends who live in the city and are bused to her school don’t always feel included.
 
And the mayor isn’t willing to listen to new ideas for fixing it all.
 
Mary Kate and her friends have big plans. And now is the time for the young people to lead and the leaders to follow—or get out of the way.

About the Authors:

Beth Vrabel is the author of a dozen middle grade novels, including the critically acclaimed To Tell You the Truth and Lies I Tell Myself. She lives in Canton, Connecticut, with her family. Visit her at BethVrabel.com.

Carrie Firestone is the author of the middle grade novel Dress Coded, which was a Booklist Editors' Choice and was described by the New York Times as "a much-needed reminder that certain fights are worth fighting." She also wrote the acclaimed young adult novels The Loose Ends List and The Unlikelies.

Event is free and open to the public.  Registration required.