Reading Club: Teenage Literature | Lauren St John, Kat Wolfe Investigates

In December, the SNFCC Teenagers’ Reading Club continues its meetings, facilitated by comic book artist and translator Thanasis Petrou as facilitator. Books of his include: Giannoulis Halepas. The Myth of Modern Greek Sculpture (on a script by Dimitris Vanellis, Patakis Publishers, 2019); Gra-Grou (on a script by Tassos Zafiriadis and Yannis Palavos, Ikaros Publishers); At the Battle of Marathon (Patakis Publishers, 2015).

The book we will be reading together this month is Kat Wolfe Investigates by Lauren St John. 30 Book Club members, aged 12 to 16, take a cue from this delightful mystery novel and engage in conversation, creating and discovering new worlds through the book's pages.

Don't worry if you haven't been able to read the entire book, or if you’ve missed our previous meeting. Each month, the Reading Club facilitator, Thanasis Petrou, will be giving us a new cue, announcing the book that we will all be reading together over the weeks to follow. At the end of the month, the group of people who have read the book (or at least half of it) will be meeting to exchange thoughts, impressions, feelings and concerns, triggered by what we have just read, whether we liked it a lot or not so much.

The plot

Twelve-year-old Kat Wolfe lives in London with her mother, Dr Ellen Wolfe, a veterinarian. They live in a small apartment, with hardly enough space for Kat’s books, let alone a pet. Dr Wolfe wants to do what’s best for her family, so she accepts a job offer at a small veterinary clinic in an idyllic seaside location in Dorset, along the Jurassic Coast.

Mother and daughter relocate and as Dr Wolfe starts working at the veterinary clinic, caring for dogs, cats and exotic capuchins, Kat can finally enjoy the company of a pet as she takes care of a Savannah that belonged to the previous owners of their more spacious new home.

Still, restless Kat wants to find a way to earn some money to buy herself a computer, so she decides to set up a pet-sitting agency. Very soon she will find herself looking after Mr. Ramon’s parrot while his owner travels to Paraguay, and a hyperactive racehorse, the Charming Outlaw. But things take a turn for the mysterious in peaceful Bluebell Bay.

Did Ramon actually travel to Paraguay, or was he abducted, or is there something else going on?

Who is the mysterious Dark Lord?

Aided by her new friend, Harper, Kat will try to solve a mystery with far-reaching implications of unimaginable proportions.

The author: 

Lauren St John grew up in Zimbabwe, at a nature reserve. She was passionate about animals and ecology and her childhood dream was to become a veterinary surgeon. At seventeen she moved to England to try to become a pop music singer, but she ended up working as a veterinary assistant. She studied journalism, but was ultimately won over by her seemingly impossible dream — becoming a writer of fiction.

A few words about the Reading Club facilitator:

Thanasis Petrou was born in 1971 in Thessaloniki. He studied French Literature in Thessaloniki and Paris, and holds a postgraduate degree in Sociolinguistics. In 2002, he won the first prize in the comic book competition (“New Talents” category) organized by “9” magazine of Eleftherotypia newspaper in collaboration with the AKTO School of Art & Design. From 2002 to 2005, he studied on a scholarship at the Sketch, Comic Book & Cartoon department of AKTO. He has worked as a French teacher, a translator, an illustrator, a musician. From 2005 to 2011, he worked with "9" magazine of Eleftherotypia newspaper. Since 2012, he has been teaching at AKTO. From 2008 to 2022, 16 comic books of his have been published by various publishers, both on scripts of his own and on scripts by other authors (Dimitris Vanellis, Katerina Servi, Pavlos Methenitis, Tassos Zafiriadis, Yannis Palavos et al.). His latest book is: “1923: Hostile Homeland” (Ikaros Books, 2022).

Friday 30/12 
13.00-14.30

ΖΟΟΜ
 

For children aged 12 to 16
Free admission with online pre-registration

Pre-registration starts on 01/12, at 12.00

To participate in the Reading Club, it is necessary for those who hold a position to have read the book of the month. (It is also useful to have it with them).

Lauren St John’s book Kat Wolfe Investigates is available in Greek by Metaichmio Publications.

As part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's collaboration with the National Library of Greece, the book for the Reading Club has been chosen by NLG staff members.