It’s April, and for the book club here at Hinsdale Central, that means it’s time for the March Madness book bracket. The club is currently reading two books for April, “My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman and “Beyond the Wand” by Tom Felton.

At the end of the month, members will rank each book and the winner will go against the winner from March, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Saenz. The winner between the March and April picks will become book of the year.

“As of right now I really enjoyed reading ‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,’ and I hope it wins so future club readers know about it,” said Joe Sofranko, junior.  

Each month the club picks a book based on the genre for that month. For example, September is realistic fiction, October is mystery/thriller, November is historical fiction and/or classics, January is sci-fi/fantasy and February is romance. 

“I would say my favorite genre this year was mystery,” said Leah Bradley. “We got to pick different spins on the genre so it was cool to compare and see what everyone thought.”

All book picks are student driven, meaning students pitch their favorite picks from each genre and they are voted on. Only one book is selected each month with the exception of the two books a month for the March Madness bracket. After the month of April there will be no more books read as a club. 

“The book I’m hoping to win in March Madness is ‘Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton,’” said Ella Folkmann, junior. “It was fun to learn more about the behind the scenes in Harry Potter.”