Caleb’s Crossing

Recommended by Katie Nazarian

The One Book, One Region selection for 2012

By Geraldine Brooks

Formats: print and downloadable ebook

Author’s Website

New York Times Book Review

Publisher Description
Living in the isolated Puritan settlement of Great Harbor on Martha’s Vineyard, Bethia Mayfield, the bright young daughter of the local minister, balances her strict religion with a passionate love of nature and a growing curiosity about the culture of the Wampanoag tribe that populates the island. When Bethia secretly strikes up a friendship with a young Wampanoag named Caleb, she unknowingly begins a journey that will shape her life. Read more…

 

One Book, One Region

The latest issue of Booklights celebrates 10 years of community reading, inspired by One Book, One Region.

Each year, a committee of librarians from within the eastern Connecticut region selects a single book around which to coordinate discussions, programs, author presentations, and more.

The 2011 selection is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Learn more about this book (as well as previous One Book, One Region selections) below. Find all of these titles on display in the Mitchell College Library.

Visit the One Book, One Region homepage to learn more!

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2011 One Book, One Region Selection

By Jonathan Safran Foer

Format: print

View in the Library Catalog

New York Times Book Review

Interview with the Author from Mother Jones

Description from Houghton Mifflin
“Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar…” Read more including a reader’s guide…

Some controversy has emerged with respect to the originality of this work. Read one perspective here.

Also by Jonathan Safran Foer:
Eating Animals

 

Pearl in the Storm

2010 One Book, One Region Selection

By Tori Murden McClure

Format: print

View in the Library Catalog

Washington Post Book Review

Description from the Book’s Website
“…this is the true story of the first woman to row a boat alone across an ocean. If you [are] looking for a simple adventure story about a simple athlete, this book is not for you. There is nothing simple about Tori Murden McClure…” Read more…

 

City of Thieves

2009 One Book, One Region Selection

By David Benioff

Format: print (on order) & downloadable audiobook

View in the Library Catalog

Excerpt from NPR

New York Times Book Review

Description from Penguin Group
“During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake…” Read more including excerpt…

 

Life is So Good

2008 One Book, One Region Selection

By George Dawson and Richard Glaubman

Format: print (on order)

View in the Library Catalog

Richard Glaubman’s Website

New York Times Article, Arts Section

Preview with Amazon.com

Description from Random House
“What makes a happy person, a happy life? In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a 101-year-old man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects on the philosophy he learned from his father—a belief that “life is so good”—as he offers valuable lessons in living and a fresh, firsthand view of America during the twentieth century…” Read more including an excerpt

 

Across a Hundred Mountains

2007 One Book, One Region Selection

By Reyna Grande

Format: print

View in the Library Catalog

Author’s Website

Publisher Description
” After years of taking care of her mother, Juana Garcia leaves her small town in Mexico to find her father who disappeared nineteen years earlier. Out of money and in need of someone to help her cross the border, Juana meets Adelina Vasquez, who left her family in California three years prior to follow forbidden love in Mexico. After the two women join forces in the most unlikely locale…” Click for more including discussion questions

Also by Reyna Grande: Dancing with Butterflies
Request Dancing with Butterflies from a LION library

 

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel

2006 One Book, One Region Selection

By Louise Murphy

Format: print (on order)

View in the Library Catalog

Author Bio from Goodreads

Description from Penguin Group
“In the winter of 1943, on the outskirts of a dark forest, two Jewish children flee the Nazis with their father and stepmother. In a moment of desperation, the children are given the aliases Hansel and Gretel and sent alone into the woods to hide. Gretel leads her younger brother in search of food and protection, while Hansel leaves a trail of breadcrumbs behind so that their father might find them again…” Read more including discussion questions…