I wasn’t aware of the Choose to Read Ohio program until I went to the Ohioana Book Festival last weekend, but it’s a really cool idea. “Choose to Read Ohio spotlights Ohio authors and promotes reading across Ohio. The State Library of Ohio, in partnership with Ohioana Library Association and other Ohio partners, developed this initiative to encourage Ohioans of all ages to share literature by authors native to, residing in, or associated with Ohio.” I don’t have a local book group to discuss the selections with, but I’m going to participate here at my blog.

The ’09 – ’10 titles are:

Children’s

  • Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden
  • Trouble Don’t Last by Shelley Pearsall
  • Where the Steps Were by Andrea Cheng
  • Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Young Adult

  • Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
  • Deadline by Chris Crutcher
  • After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The Death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff
  • Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Adult

  • Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad by Ann Hagedorn
  • A Mercy by Toni Morrison
  • You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
  • River of Heaven by Lee Martin
  • The Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins

I’m not going to attempt to read all of the list, at least not this year. I’m hoping to read 5 of them. I like the concept of Ohioans reading together, sharing stories by Ohio authors or books associated with Ohio in some way. I’ll be keeping track of the books I read and any other tidbits here.

3 Comments

  • Dear Carol,

    A colleague alerted me to this post. On behalf of the State Library & Ohioana, many thanks for supporting Choose to Read Ohio. We are working hard to increase the visibility of this new initiative. Your spreading the word is a big help & is much appreciated! Also: I know one person who has read all 15 books on the list. Go for it! It’ll be good practice for reading all 20 books on the 2011 list. Happy reading,

    Sincerely,
    Janet Ingraham Dwyer
    State Library of Ohio

  • Got to love supporting the locals!! I actually didn’t realize the connection to Ohio on a couple of the titles. I just picked up Walk Two Moons at a sale last weekend!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.