Kids ages 8 through 12 are invited to a special STEAM (Science, Technology, Math, Art, and Science)-themed book club!
YA Book Club meets once a month! Participants choose what to read and can get a free copy of the book. Check out our calendar or contact Teen Librarian Regina at rdemauro@tcpl.org for more information.
Children ages 9-12 are welcome to join our Tween Book Club on the second Wednesday of each month. Registration is required. Register and pick up your free copy of the book at the Youth Services Reference Desk. You're welcome to bring suggestions for future books to read together! Refreshments will be served. Check our calendar for upcoming book club dates!
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Thursday, February 27th
6:30 - 7:30 PM
Tompkins Trust Company Study Room
NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE; NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Paste, Town & Country, The New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal
Nearly every paragraph is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished world and steeped in its own vivid vocabulary. -Entertainment Weekly
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he has ever known.
So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he is enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram's resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children. The violent and capricious separation of families and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today's most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.
The 4 Seasons Book Club meets quarterly to discuss pre-selected works of modern fiction and celebrated classics. Titles are decided by group vote approximately 6-8 weeks before each book club meeting. Check this page for updates.
For more information, contact Joyce at jwheatley@tcpl.org.
Tuesday, March 3rd
6:30 - 7:30 PM
Tompkins Trust Company Study Room
Truth Be Told Non-Fiction Book Club meets quarterly to discuss a selected non-fiction title. Our meetings are held on Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30pm in the Tompkins Trust Company Study Room.
Our first selection for 2020 is The Second Founding: How The Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution, by Eric Foner.
The Declaration of Independence announced equality as an American ideal, but it took the Civil War and the subsequent adoption of three constitutional amendments to establish that ideal as American law. The Reconstruction amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed all persons due process and equal protection of the law, and equipped black men with the right to vote. They established the principle of birthright citizenship and guaranteed the privileges and immunities of all citizens. The federal government, not the states, was charged with enforcement, reversing the priority of the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In grafting the principle of equality onto the Constitution, these revolutionary changes marked the second founding of the United States.
Eric Foner is the pre-eminent historian of the Civil War era. His teaching and scholarship have shaped our understanding of that pivotal period. His books have garnered every major award, including the Pulitzer Prize for The Fiery Trial, his study of Lincoln and American slavery. The DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, he also writes frequently for The Nation and other major periodicals.
Please register with us in advance to obtain a copy of the selected title (there are a limited number available). For more information, or to register, contact Tom Burns at tburns@tcpl.org. You can also register for an upcoming Truth Be Told meeting by exploring our events calendar.
Next meeting: Monday, March 2nd, 6:30-7:30pm,
in the Tompkins Trust Company Study Room.
Adults are invited to celebrate their love of this diverse and subversive medium in this quarterly book club. New titles are chosen by popular vote. Registration is required as there are limited copies available.
For March, in honor of Will Eisner Week, we will be reading the Eisner Award-winning book Jim Henson's Tale of Sand by Ramón K Pérez:
Join us as we explore this missing piece of Jim Henson's career in a celebration of his creative process. Discovered in the Archives of the The Jim Henson Company, A Tale of Sand is an original graphic novel adaptation of an unproduced, feature-length screenplay written by Jim Henson and his frequent writing partner, Jerry Juhl. A Tale of Sand follows scruffy everyman, Mac, who wakes up in an unfamiliar town, and is chased across the desert of the American Southwest by all manners of man and beast of unimaginable proportions. Produced with the complete blessing of Lisa Henson, A Tale of Sand will allow Henson fans to recognize some of the inspirations and set pieces that appeared in later Henson Company productions.
If you have any questions, you can email Sophia at smckissick@tcpl.org. To register, check our events calendar.
Previous Selections |
A fun, weekly, community-building book club for adults with developmental disabilities. Books are read aloud together, so all reading levels are welcome. Contact Teresa at tvadakin@tcpl.org for more information.
