Book Club Inspires Hillcrest Students To Learn Survival Skills

TINLEY PARK, IL —A lesson in wilderness survival from the Cook County Forest Preserve helped bring events from a book to life for Hillcrest High School students.

The school's library partnered with them to create an immersive learning experience through the 4 in 4 Book Club. Students in that club read Inhuman by Kat Falls, a dystopian story about a virus that turns people into human-animal hybrids. The learning experience was created to introduce students to some of the hazards they could potentially face in a dystopian society.

So last month, four members from the Forest Preserve taught students fire building, knot tying, and how to identify edible plants.

“By hosting these programs it’s an easy way to get students involved in the book club or interested in furthering conversation around the chosen book for the year,” said Lisa Walsh, Hillcrest's library media specialist.

The 4 in 4 Book Club offers each high school in the district 30 new books each year that are donated by the District 228 Educational Foundation. Students check them out for the year and participate in discussions and events at the end of the program.

Last year, for example, students read A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, which tells the true story of a lost Sudanese boy and village girl who struggle to get water and other resources in South Sudan. Hillcrest High School invited the Metro Water Reclamation District to speak with students about what would happen if water were to run out or became sparse in their region.

Hillcrest will wrap up this year's book club with a pizza party and group talk in April.