From the Peekskill school district….

This year the One River-One Read summer campaign will provide adult readers an opportunity to receive a well known work of fiction, free of charge, as a means to encourage reading in the community.

Superintendent Judith Johnson in a quote on the virtues of adult reading programs said “children of parents who read, become children who read.”

This summer’s campaign includes two works of fiction; T.C. Boyle’s “World’s End” and Edwidge Danticat’s “Breath, Eyes, Memory.”

Winner of the 1988 PEN/Faulkner Award for American fiction, “World’s End” details one man’s journey into his families checkered past that takes the reader from the late 1960’s back to the late 17th century and the founding of the Hudson Valley and Peekskill, fictionalized in the novel as Peterskill.

Mr. Boyle, who was born in Peekskill, will appear at the Paramount Center for the Arts on October 17, 2009 as a part of the Peekskill Quadricentennial Celebration,.

Edwidge Danticat’s “Breath, Eyes, Memory” draws on the author’s own experiences to tell the story of an adolescent girl born on the island of Haiti, who is transplanted to New York City to live with a mother she barely knows. The ensuing struggles of assimilation and feelings of guilt and dislocation which impact her life create a compelling story of transformation and eventual liberation.

Copies of each book will be available to the first 100 adults at the District Administration Building located at 1031 Elm St. Loan copies are also available at the Field Library.

In the fall, participants will be invited to attend a literary tea where they will discuss their reactions to the book of their choice.