Hours
Features
West Portal Branch Calendar
West Portal on Facebook
West Portal Archives on flickr
Teen Services Librarian Available
WiFi
Sign-up for our Monthly Newsletter!
Collections
- High interest books at adult, teen and children's reading levels
- Large collections of fiction, nonfiction and reference materials
- Variety of periodicals and audiovisual materials
- Large collection of electronic resources
- Medium collections of Chinese and Russian materials
Languages spoken by staff (based on staff availability): English | Chinese - Cantonese
Book Club: Mother-Daughter
-
A Place to Hang the Moon -
Tiger Daughter -
Leeva at Last -
Nothing Else but Miracles -
The Eyes & the Impossible -
The Fabulous Fannie Farmer -
Calvin and the Sugar Apples -
Learning to Fall -
A League of Their Own -
Golden Ticket -
The Apartment House on Poppy Hill -
Out of Left Field -
Looking for True -
The Takeout -
My Nest of Silence -
American as Paneer Pie -
The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe -
All Thirteen -
Morning Sun in Wuhan -
Violet and Jobie in the Wild -
Saucy -
Farah Rocks Fifth Grade -
In the Beautiful Country -
Almost There and Almost Not -
Too Bright to See -
Red, White, and Whole -
Amina's Voice -
Raymie Nightingale -
Crenshaw -
When You Reach Me -
The Meaning of Maggie -
The Hundred Dresses -
The War That Saved My Life -
Josephine -
The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing -
Tuck Everlasting -
The Year of the Three Sisters -
May B -
The Gutsy Girl -
One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street -
Roller Girl -
Love, Ruby Lavender -
The Witch of Blackbird Pond -
One Good Thing About America -
Bridge to Terabithia -
Tenggren's Golden Tales From the Arabian Nights -
El Deafo -
A Wrinkle in Time -
The Trouble With May Amelia -
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -
When Mischief Came to Town -
Out of My Mind -
Half Magic -
Island of the Blue Dolphins -
The Fourteenth Goldfish -
The Year of the Dog -
Because of Winn-Dixie -
A Crooked Kind of Perfect -
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill -
Everything on A Waffle -
Flora & Ulysses -
Al Capone Does My Homework -
Turtle in Paradise -
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -
Three Times Lucky -
Year of the Book -
The One and Only Ivan -
Inside Out & Back Again -
Women in Science -
The Midwife's Apprentice -
Two Naomis -
The War I Finally Won -
The Saturdays -
Growing up With Aloha -
Rosetown -
Our Only May Amelia -
The Heart and Mind of Frances Pauley -
Louisiana's Way Home -
Amal Unbound -
Savvy -
Front Desk -
The Moon Within -
Stef Soto, Taco Queen -
Searching for Lottie -
Becoming RBG -
The Princess Dolls -
Cat Running -
Skunk and Badger -
Listening for Lions -
One Crazy Summer -
Little White Duck -
Spin With Me -
Prairie Lotus -
When Stars Are Scattered -
Show Me A Sign -
Love, Love -
The List of Things That Will Not Change -
War and Millie McGonigle -
Lety Out Loud
Fun fact: Local author Caroline Paul thanks us in the "Acknowledgements" section of her book The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure (2016). Before it was published, our group read the manuscript and met with Caroline (over cookies and juice) to provide our feedback. She says we made it better!
We meet (usually) on the last Thursday of each month, 6:45-7:45 PM, at the West Portal Library. Our group is for girls ages 9-12 with a favorite adult. We read mostly fiction but also non-fiction and what's delightful for Librarian Liesel is seeing families relating to each other over all kinds of topics that they otherwise might not discuss.
Book Club: For Boys
-
The One and Only Family -
Bomb -
Stuntboy, in the Meantime -
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams -
Seen and Unseen -
The Eyes & the Impossible
-
Simon Sort of Says -
The Effects of Pickled Herring -
How We Got to the Moon -
Eagle Drums -
Elf Dog and Owl Head -
The Jake Show -
Golden Ticket
-
The Faithful Spy -
Paperboy -
Mexikid -
Odder -
Lion of Mars -
Invisible -
Troublemaker -
All Thirteen
-
The Door of No Return -
How to Build A Human -
New From Here -
Northwind -
Red Scare -
The Secret Battle of Evan Pao -
Falling Short -
The One and Only Bob -
Look Both Ways -
Clean Getaway -
Omar Rising -
Spin With Me
-
Little White Duck
-
Efren Divided -
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground -
The Crossover -
Because of Winn-Dixie
-
A Single Shard -
Mr. Tucket -
A Long Way From Chicago -
Ghost -
One Beetle Too Many -
Patina -
Al Capone Does My Shirts -
The Giver -
The Secret Garden -
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -
Breaking Stalin's Nose -
Hello, Universe -
New Kid -
Pay Attention, Carter Jones -
The Runaways -
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy -
Holes -
Poppy
We began at the urging of moms in the Mother-Daughter Bookclub who wanted something for their sons too.
We meet on the first Thursday of each month, 6:45-7:45 PM, at the West Portal Library. Our group is for boys ages 9-12 with a favorite adult. We read mostly fiction but also non-fiction and coordinate activities like fossil excavating (a propos a book about Charles Darwin). Another highlight was Zooming with author Ami Polonsky to discuss her book about a non-binary kid and having one grandma to say: "Gender! Pronouns! I've learned so much tonight!"
