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Image for event: Virtual Author Talk with Rex Ogle

Virtual Author Talk with Rex Ogle

Illuminating Hope & Grace in the Face of Hardship: Grade 5-8

2025-07-23 13:00:00 2025-07-23 14:00:00 America/Los_Angeles Virtual Author Talk with Rex Ogle Enjoy a range of talks from bestselling authors and thought leaders. Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. Virtual Pierce County Library -

Wednesday, July 23
1:00pm - 2:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-07-23 13:00:00 2025-07-23 14:00:00 America/Los_Angeles Virtual Author Talk with Rex Ogle Enjoy a range of talks from bestselling authors and thought leaders. Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. Virtual Pierce County Library -

Enjoy a range of talks from bestselling authors and thought leaders. Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.

Register here!

You’re invited to join us online with award-winning author Rex Ogle as he talks to viewers about his struggles to navigate sixth grade as written about in his book Free Lunch. 

Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex’s mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.

Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of last period every day until the buses have left, so no one will see where he lives.

Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America. Register now to join the conversation!

About the Author: Rex Ogle is the author of Free Lunch, winner of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Punching Bag, a New York Public Library Best Book; Abuela Don’t Forget Me, finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; and Road Home, which received a Printz Honor and a Stonewall Book Award Honor. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

For more information about upcoming author talks, and to view past recordings, please visit Library Speakers Consortium Author Talks.

    AGE GROUP: | Tweens (9-12) | Teens (13-18) |

    EVENT TYPE: | Author event |

    Virtual Pierce County Library

    virtualpcls@pcls.us
    Phone: 253-548-3300

    Hours
    Mon, Jul 21 10:00AM to 6:00PM
    Tue, Jul 22 10:00AM to 6:00PM
    Wed, Jul 23 10:00AM to 6:00PM
    Thu, Jul 24 10:00AM to 6:00PM
    Fri, Jul 25 10:00AM to 6:00PM
    Sat, Jul 26 11:00AM to 3:00PM
    Sun, Jul 27 Closed

    About the branch

    Upcoming events

    Tue, Jul 22, 10:00am - 11:00am
    Virtual Room 3
    Learn, connect, and practice English language skills. For ESL learners and English speakers wanting to connect with and support ESL learners.

    Wed, Jul 23, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
    Enjoy a range of talks from bestselling authors and thought leaders. Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.

    Thu, Jul 24, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
    Virtual Room 1
    Join your local librarians and your neighbors for a virtual book discussion on Zoom! Pick up this month's title at your local Pierce County Library or on Libby!

    Thu, Jul 24, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
    Virtual Room 3
    Learn, connect, and practice English language skills. For ESL learners and English speakers wanting to connect with and support ESL learners.

    Fri, Jul 25, 3:30pm - 5:45pm
    A virtual game run on the Teen Discord Server: PCLTeens. Make a character and join your fellow teens on a gothic horror adventure. Monsters lurk in the night, with untold secrets to find.
    Registration is now closed