How the WRT Books Were Chosen

   A year ago, we formed a committee to plan the first ever "Wellesley Reads Together".  The thought of choosing a book seemed daunting, so we explored what other communities were reading and asked how they made the decision before we went forward.

    The committee members thought it would be particularly special to choose a local author. They also wanted to offer a book for children and one for adults.  Choosing a children's author was an easy task as we had all liked Wellesley resident Katie Smith Milway's first book, One Hen.  Then we began exploring adult books on the same topic.

    In the meantime, we discovered Katie's Good Garden book, and we all agreed that sustainability and eating local foods were really relevant topics.  We read many books and had lots of discussion.  My favorite (though a bit hard to read) was The Omnivore's Dilemma. We finally decided on Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. 

Since then, we have been busily planning the events portion of the Wellesley Reads Together program.  The committee members hope that many people will read both books, attend a program (or two or three)  and have a good time with us as we celebrate our first ever "Wellesley Reads Together".

Janice Coduri – Director, Wellesley Free Library