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Behind The Story: Author Talk with Rex Ogle

A CCPL Virtual Author Speaker Series Program

2025-07-23 16:00:00 2025-07-23 17:00:00 America/New_York Behind The Story: Author Talk with Rex Ogle Virtual -

Wednesday, July 23
4:00pm - 5:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-07-23 16:00:00 2025-07-23 17:00:00 America/New_York Behind The Story: Author Talk with Rex Ogle Join us and author Rex Ogle to discuss hope and grace in the face of hardship! Virtual -

Join us and author Rex Ogle to discuss hope and grace in the face of hardship!

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.

To view a recording of this event or to see the full archive of Behind the Story events, click here. Scroll to search for the event you are looking for.


The views expressed by presenters are their own, and their appearance in a program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Charles County Public Library.

Charles County Public Library events are accessible for all. If you have an accessibility request, please contact programs@ccplonline.org three business days prior to the event.

Virtual


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We're closed Saturday August 30 due to CLOSED: LABOR DAY
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