On Tuesday, April 5, the Cheyenne River Youth Project® will kick off its seven-week Spring Book2Movie Club at the Cokata Wiconi (“Center of Life”) teen center and The Main youth center. Club members will meet in the Cokata Wiconi and Main libraries every Tuesday and Thursday in April, May and June.
Participants ages 13-18 will read three novels from a selection of banned books that were made into movies, while children ages 4-12 will read two popular children’s books that also became films (staff members will help the youngest children). Each book will conclude with a special finale celebration.
On deck for the teens: Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” and Roald Dahl’s “The BFG.” At The Main, younger children will enjoy Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” as staff members read the books aloud.
Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP’s youth programs director, will lead Book2Movie Club sessions. Not only will she facilitate discussions, she will conduct quizzes and special activities related to the featured book.
“We’re asking the kids to read the assigned sections beforehand and be prepared to discuss what they read,” Eagle Hunter said. “If they participate in each class and read the book as assigned, they’ll be able to attend the finale celebration for that book.”
For the teens, milestone parties will watching the movie at Cokata Wiconi and taking part in a special cooking class that incorporates nutritious, organically grown vegetables from CRYP’s 2-acre, pesticide-free Winyan Toka Win (“Leading Lady”) garden. During the three parties, the teens will learn to make healthy chicken fajitas, nachos, and teriyaki stir-fry with brown rice.
“They’ll watch ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ and for the third celebration, it’ll be teens’ choice,” Eagle Hunter said. “On July 1, we’ll make a special trip to the theater in Pierre to see ‘The BFG.’”
At The Main, children may invite their families for a special dinner and viewing of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The evening will include a special activity and art project as well. Then, in May, the kids will make a trip to Pierre to see “The Jungle Book” on the big screen.
“We’re excited to kick off our next installment of our Book2Movie Club, because it does so much more than encourage literacy among our young people,” Eagle Hunter said. “It encourages them to think critically about what they read, to develop and voice their opinions, to engage in healthy discussion and debate with their peers, and to reflect on their own life experiences in a new way.
“Hopefully, we have chosen titles that will give our teens wonderful opportunities to engage in conversations that feel relevant to them,” she continued. “And, to nurture a love of reading that will last a lifetime.”
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The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.