Thanks to all who took part in the 2008 Fox Cities Community Read to make it a success! Community members attended book discussions, teens got Green Angel-inspired Henna Tattoos at APL, one person even spread the word all the way to Hawaii, while many others came to hear the author speak at several libraries in the area.
Post Crescent Pictures of Alice Hoffman at APL
The 2008 Fox Cities Community Read is an area-wide collaborative program of five Fox Cities public libraries: Neenah, Menasha, Kimberly-Little Chute, Kaukauna, Appleton and the library at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley. We hope the 2008 Community Read will facilitate dialogue, cultivate a love of reading and promote a sense of community.
For 2008, we have chosen two books by Alice Hoffman: Blackbird House and Green Angel. We encourage you to read one or both of the titles and come together for discussions, presentations and related activities.
Blackbird House
…[An] evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.… This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet…. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home. (Syndetics)
Find this title at Appleton, Kaukauna, Little Chute, or Kimberly Libraries
Find this title at Neenah or Menasha Libraries (large print)
Green Angel
Left on her own when her family dies in a terrible disaster, fifteen year old Green is haunted by loss and by the past. Struggling to survive physically and emotionally in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden. But in destroying her feelings, she also begins to destroy herself, erasing the girl she'd once been as she inks darkness into her skin. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters that Green can relearn the lessons of love and begin to heal enough to tell her story. (Syndetics)
Find this title at Appleton, Kaukauna, Little Chute, or Kimberly Libraries
Find this title at Neenah or Menasha Libraries