Award winners and New York Times bestsellers round out Pikes Peak Library District’s 2021 All Pikes Peak Reads program.
This year’s titles features two adult ones: “Hidden Valley Road” by Robert Kolker and “Finna” by Nate Marshall, an assistant professor of English at Colorado College.
Kolker’s 2020 biography detailed the lives of Don and Mimi Galvin, a couple who landed in Colorado Springs in the 1960s and created their family of a dozen children. Six of their 10 sons were eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book made the New York Times best-sellers list, was selected as an Oprah’s Book Club Pick and named a best book of the year by NYT, The Washington Post, NPR, Time Amazon and others.
The author will do a virtual visit with PPLD in October.
“We’re always looking to engage with the community, and if a community read helps to engage with people and promote lifelong learning, we’re happy to do it,” said PPLD Senior Librarian Heidi Buljung. “Bringing those high-profile and big-name authors makes me feel good, like we’re providing good service to our patrons.”
Marshall’s 2020 collection of poems celebrates the Black vernacular, and explores how language can both harm and hurt us. It was named a best book of the year by NPR, and selected for this year’s program as a way to encourage conversation about how we use and change language, and to help inspire kids and teens to use poetry to tell their stories.
This year’s young adult title, “Nimona” by Noelle Stevenson, is a 2015 New York Times bestselling graphic novel based on her science fiction- and fantasy-based web comic. Nimona, a shapeshifting villain, pairs up with another villain, Lord Ballister Blackheart, to take down members of the kingdom’s Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics and show they aren’t do-gooders after all.
The book was selected for its themes of finding community in odd places, friendship and how we treat those we see as different.
“Indian No More,” the 2019 book by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell, is this year’s children’s selection. Set in 1957 during the civil rights era, a 10-year-old girl relocates with her family to Los Angeles from Oregon, after the federal government signs a bill saying her Umpqua tribe no longer exists. In her new life, she must deal with vicious racism.
The title was selected for its historical content and finding appreciation for your heritage, while finding community wherever you land.
All four books are available at PPLD locations. All Pikes Peak Reads programming, including in-person and virtual author visits, will begin in mid-September. Go online to ppld.org/appr for more information.
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