One Book One Community wants your vote

One Book One Community is returning to the Staunton-Augusta County-Waynesboro area. This cooperative venture is designed to bring the community together through the experience of reading the same book.  In preparation for a month of reading, discussion and programs to be held in May 2014, the OBOC Committee has selected a “short list” of three titles.  For the second year in a row, the public has the opportunity to vote for the book they would most like to read together.

The three books are: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, a real detective story that was on the New York Times best seller list for over two years. Without ever telling her or her family, doctors retrieved cells from Henrietta Lacks, the descendant of freed slaves, and used them to create the first immortal human cell line grown in culture, with important consequences for cancer research, in vitro developments, gene mapping, and more. “The Giver”  by Lois Lowry, is a Newbery award winning dystopian fantasy in which Jonas receives his life assignment as Receiver of Memory and learns that a land with no war, poverty, fear, or hardship is also one where “misfits” are killed. It has been called one of the most influential novels of our time. “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver is a best-selling novel that weaves together three stories of human love–a wildlife biologist caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, a bookish city wife facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors who find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud–within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of Appalachia.

Voting will open October 1 and close October 20.   Voting boxes can be found at the Waynesboro Public Library, the Staunton Public Library, at all branches of the Augusta County Library, and other locations.  Online voting is available atwww.sawcommunityread.org.

One Book One Community began in 2008 as the Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts. This will mark the 7^th year of local participation, and the 3^rd without NEA funding.   All support now comes from the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, the local libraries and their Friends groups, the Gannett Foundation and other area contributors.   Donations are welcome and will be used to purchase additional copies of the chosen title.