Book Club

At Brain Power we believe in fostering both a love of reading and a social conscience in our students. That is why our book club discussions bring together great literature and pressing social concerns. At one event we might discuss environmental protection and Richard Adams’s Watership Down, at the next event we might discuss autism awareness and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. We also have exciting field trips and contests! One year our students even had the chance to meet Margaret Atwood – author of The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, Oryx and Crake, and many more awesome novels and books!

Lost & Found

JANUARY 30TH, 2022

For our most recent book club, we read a dystopian novel set in Toronto and written by local author Alex Andre. The book has been on Amazon’s top Sci-Fi dystopian literature list this year! The discussion was guided by Brain Power staff and the author himself. WOW! Students got to share their thoughts on the book with fellow brilliant students and ask the author questions too! What an amazing experience! Stay tuned for information on our next exciting Brain Power book club event!

The Lives of Animals

DECEMBER 1ST, 2019

On November 30, Brain Power’s book club met to have a detailed discussion of J. M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals. We also had a guest talk from Maureen Hutchison, a field educator with the Educated Choices Program, who discussed central issues in the book including the environment and modern agriculture. Our students had an enthusiastic reaction, and one of our Intermediate 1 students said, “I think that the book club was amazing and different than what I was expecting and that...

Antigone

MAY 5TH, 2019

On May 4th, a group of Brain Power students, led by Dr. Karine Rashkovsky and Dr. Jason Boulet, attended the Young People’s Theatre’s production of Antigone. This production is a fresh and timely adaptation of the classic Greek story, inspired by the 2014 student umbrella protest in Hong Kong and the 1989 uprising in Tiananmen Square. In this riveting new play, “re-education” awaits anyone who questions the state’s traditional doctrine. Antigone faces high stakes as she stands up for her brother...

Lingustics Book Club

OCTOBER 26TH, 2018

If we had to, would humans actually be able to talk to aliens? Backed by science, Brain Power tackled this fascinating linguistics puzzle—and more—at our fall book club, hosted by Dr. Karine Rashkovsky and our resident linguist, Dr. Cassandra Chapman!

The Secret Garden

DECEMBER 3RD, 2017

Orphaned Mary Lennox is a spoiled, selfish, and unpleasant child whose parents died of a cholera epidemic in India. Transported to a distant family estate in Britain, Mary  dislikes it and the people at first – until she discovers they key to a  long-abandoned secret garden hidden on the property. Along with the maid’s younger brother, Dickon, Mary begins to cultivate the garden. This leads her to find her reclusive cousin Colin, a boy  confined to a wheelchair, whose father –always...

Spaghetti Detectives

OCTOBER 30TH, 2017

Oscar is a bit odd—even his mother thinks so—but  he’s also a genius … that’s why he always wears a blue helmet to protect his brain! He notices things that other kids (and even adults) miss, which makes him the perfect sleuth to solve the mystery of the kids that have been going missing in his neighbourhood. But Oscar needs some help to face his biggest fears, and that is where his friend Rico, a boy with ADHD, comes in....