Our global book club Big Library Read (BLR) is back! Between now and November 21, the ebook and audiobook of Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key by Tracy Occomy Crowder are available without waitlists or holds on the library reading app Libby and the student reading platform Sora! 

Engage with the readers at your library or school by accessing complimentary resources like a letter from author Tracy Occomy Crowder and a reading group guide that can be used to facilitate a discussion. Visit BigLibraryRead.com for more information.

On the BLR website, libraries, schools, and parents can also find free bonus materials  from TeachingBooks and an art contest kids age 12 and under can enter for an opportunity to win the ultimate explorer’s prize pack! 

Register for a free live event with author Tracy Occomy Crowder 

Join the Big Library Read community for a free live author event on November 21 at 6 pm CT! Perfect for readers of all ages, this event will include a live reading, audience Q&A, and story writing fun for the whole family. 

Register today! 

Get the word out about Big Library Read 

Visit the BLR website to download a free marketing kit. 

What’s included in the Libby and Sora marketing kits: 

  • Flyer 
  • Bookmarks 
  • Social Graphics 
  • Social Copy 

About Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key 

In 2008 Chicago, in the Southside community of Washington Park, Montgomery “Monty” Carver had hopes for the best summer ever! Unfortunately, things aren’t going as planned. Monty is struggling to prove to his parents that he’s old enough to be without adult supervision—especially after a very embarrassing incident with a metal detector. Man! So when Monty finds a golden key in Old Lady Jenkins’s sunflowers, he decides he’s going to unravel the key’s mystery all by himself, thank you very much. No parents allowed. Besides, he’s ten years old now, and he’s mastered the perfectly round ‘fro! (It takes a protractor, you see.) Soon Monty’s hunt to determine the origin of the key leads him to discover the rich history—like famous Black jockeys!—of his Chicago community, which has been speculating its future since one of their residents, Barack Obama, is running for president and the Olympics might come to town in 2016. 

On top of all that speculating, there are rumors going around that a ghost is hanging out behind their apartment building, and that Monty’s elementary school may have to close. So much to solve! Should the Olympics come to Washington Park? What happens if his school closes? Is there really a ghost? And where, oh where, did the key come from anyway? Monty is determined to find out.