Gentle Reads Annotation: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend


 

Author: Katarina Bivald 
Title: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend 
Genre: Gentle Reads
Publication Date: January 19, 2016
Number of Pages: 394
Geographical Setting: Iowa
Time Period: The 2010s
Plot Summary: For the last few years, Sara from Sweden and Amy from Broken Wheel Iowa have been pen pals exchanging books. When Sara finally makes it to Iowa to visit Amy, she learns Amy has passed away. Not wanting to return home and wanting to learn more about Amy and this town, Sara decides to open a bookstore with Amy’s books. Through this bookstore Sara learns about the interesting townspeople (Who happen to be bothered by her presence at first), by finding them books to read. Additionally, throughout the novel we learn a lot about Sara and Amy, by getting to look at their letters back and forth from before Amy’s death.
Eventually, the townspeople come to love Sara, and she begins to wonder if she should stay in Broken Wheel. Relationships are forged, secrets are shared, and the community comes together to support each other in this charming, literary reference filled novel about found family, and finding your purpose, 

Subject Headings: 
Books and reading
Friendship
Loss
Pen pals
Small town life
Appeal:
Character: Likeable; Quirky
Tone: Amusing; Heartwarming. In addition to these two phrases, the text book describes these types of books as feel good stories that are not complicated in story (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 195)

Writing Style: Engaging
Storyline: The textbook says that these kinds of novels often focus on self discovery and that is certainly the case for Sara, she doesn’t have many friends, her family doesn’t understand her, and through opening the bookstore Sarah finds purpose and community (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 196)


3 terms that best describe this book: heartwarming, funny, eclectic small-town story.

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
1. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriett Reisen
Relevant Topic: Louisa May Alcott was frequently mentioned in The Readers of Broken Wheel 
2.Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman
 Relevant Topic: Charlotte Bronte was mentioned in The Readers of Broken Wheel 
3.Paradise Lost: A Life of F- Scott Fitzgerald by David S. Brown
Relevant Topic: F. Scott Fitzgerald was a literary reference in The Readers of Broken Wheel 



3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
1,How to Find Love in Bookshop by Veronica Henry.  
Similarity: Small town novel with a bookstore at the center of the story.
2..That Part was True by Deborah McKinlay
Similarities: Small town story that is heartwarming with quirky characters. Shows the impact of books and reading
3.The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Similarities: small close-knit town, witty characters and writing, heartwarming, and engaging
Reference:
Bivald, Katarina. (2016).  The readers of broken wheel recommend. Sourcebooks Landmark
Wyatt, N. & Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd edition). ALA Editions.








Comments

  1. BeccaMarch 2, 2023 at 4:38 PM

    So with this book would it be a book for someone who wants some hurt and comfort? It seams like this book deals with the subject of loss and how to recover and move on in life after a close friend has passed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Megan RichardsMarch 3, 2023 at 2:12 PM

      I'm not sure. It's more like a celebration of who Amy was. There wasn't a lot of angst, but it does show the importance of community and showing up for people after a loss

      Delete
  2. AnonymousMarch 3, 2023 at 8:38 AM

    The two books we each chose to annotate for gentle reads sound a lot alike! The genre really enjoys books about books, I've learned. Also -- small towns are HUGE for this genre. It def has a formula down. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. TashaMarch 4, 2023 at 2:48 PM

    Hi Megan,
    I remember reading this book. It was a good read from what I remember. The details are fuzzy, but remember enjoying it. Incidentally, I've also read two of your three relevant fiction picks. Also good books. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erin CataldiMarch 22, 2023 at 8:32 AM

    Excellent annotation - full points!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 11 Prompt

I think that the rise of audiobooks and eBooks, has done a lot to change appeal factors.  I would like to first focus on eBooks, I don’t think not having a physical copy of a book changes much about knowledge of the genre. Some factors I do think can be changed are that an eBook doesn’t have the thickness of a large book, which can often make a book look more intimidating. I do not think changing the font changes pacing or tone all that much. However, if a font is distracting in the way it looks, it might change the pace at which I read a book. Changing the line spacing might make a paragraph look less intimidating. I feel like using a big font might result in feeling like you read a lot faster and might change your reading speed. When it comes to audiobooks on the other hand, I think they have many ways of changing appeal factors. I think this is particularly true when it comes to who is reading the audiobook. For me, I think narrator choice can greatly affect your enjoyment of a ...
Read more

Week 15 Prompt

The three ways I would choose to market my library’s fiction collection are social media, displays, and book clubs. Social Media  For this tool, I would focus on two of the most popular social media platforms right now, Instagram and Tiktok for Instagram, some possible posts include, a staff pick of the week, a monthly theme with five or so books for the theme each month (Theme could be a genre, topic, etc.) and a monthly author spotlight) For Tiktok I’d do an as seen on Booktok video each month, genre spotlight videos, and author spotlight videos. Displays I would use this tool by creating one or two new fiction displays each moth. Some of these would correspond with various history/awareness months (Think pride, black history, etc). Or holiday themes, such as romance for February/Valentine’s Day. Book Clubs Many libraries have book clubs, so this isn’t a fresh idea, but it’s proven to attract people to fiction books. One idea I have for a book theme is New Releases, where each mo...
Read more

Week 7 Prompt

I would say that over the last two years I have allowed my reading choices to be greatly influenced by Reese Witherspoon’s celebrity book club. At first, I thought it was because I’ve probably seen Legally Blonde dozens of times, and follow Reese’s life frequently on socials, but now I know it goes much deeper than that. For starters, I first heard of many of these books Reese Witherspoon selected for her book club because her production company was adapting them for the screen, after googling some of these titles I learned of the book club. I soon noticed that the majority of these books have incredibly well-crafted strong female leads, and when you add this to the fact that Reese frequently speaks out on feminist topics, I started to feel her section and opinions on these books were incredibly trust worthy. Furthermore, the CEO of Reese’s production company, Hello Sunshine, says the following about the heart behind the book club , the heart of a book club hearkens back to groups of w...
Read more