The Needham Free Public Library is partnering with several other community organizations to sponsor a One Book One Community Program this summer. The chosen book is "In the Country We Love: My Family Divided" by Diane Guerrero.
Hardcover and e-book copies of the book are available at the library. There are a limited number of uncatalogued paperback copies available for borrowing, swapping, and getting sandy on the beach. The book is suitable for high school students, as well as adults.
"In the Country We Love" is Diane Guerrero’s memoir of her experience of returning home from school in Boston one day at age 14 and learning that her illegal alien parents had been detained and deported. Guerrero is an actress on the hit television show "Orange is the New Black."
Starting in late August and progressing into September, the library and its co-sponsors will be presenting a series of book discussion groups, followed by a wrap-up lecture to the summer-long event. These activities will provide a forum for people to come together and discuss Diane Guerrero’s experiences, as reported in the book.
Discussions will be held in the library’s Community Room on Sunday, September 24, at 2:00 p.m. – facilitated by Stan Hitron, Treasurer, Library Foundation of Needham; and on Tuesday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. – facilitated by Peg Riley, Needham Community Council - ESL Program. No registration is required to attend any of these discussions.
The wrap-up lecture will be presented by Goodwin Lawyer Elaine Herrmann Blais, a Boston Bar Association - Thurgood Marshall Award recipient for her work with KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), representing unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children in their deportation proceedings. This lecture will occur on Sunday, October 1, at 2:00 p.m. in the Library’s Community Room.
The One Book One Community Program is part of a diversity initiative titled the "Needham Free Public Forum" whose motto is "Exploring diversity to inspire unity." The initiative was organized by library trustees and staff in response to citizen input offered as part of the library's most recent long-range planning process.
Co-sponsors for the One Book One Community program this summer are the Friends of the Needham Public Library, the Immigration Justice Task Force, the Library Foundation of Needham, the Needham Clergy Association, the Needham Community Council ESL Program, the Needham Diversity Initiative, the Needham League of Women Voters, and the Needham Human Rights Committee. For more information, contact the Library at (781-455-7559, x2).
