For the first time since it was established in 2003, the annual All Iowa Reads program is including divisions for young adults and kids.
Iowa City author and bookseller Sarah Prineas was on the committee to select the titles for young people this year. Prineas says the two picks have already been introduced to teachers and librarians.
Prineas says, “As we come into the summertime, you are going to see book groups and reading groups at schools and libraries take up these books for discussion and make them part of their reading conversations.” Jerri Heid, the youth services manager at the Ames Public Library, was also on the committee to select the titles. She says it took a year for the choices to be made.
Heid says, “It was very inspiring to talk at the table with other librarians and teachers and authors who brought different parts of their lives to the table to talk about what it was about the book they liked and didn’t like.” The choice for young adults is “Girl in the Blue Coat” by Monica Hesse. The All Iowa Kids Read is “Ghost” by Jason Reynolds. The nonfiction, Iowa-based “The Boys in the Bunkhouse” by Dan Berry is the 2018 All Iowa Reads pick for adults. Prineas and Heid made their comments on the Iowa Public Radio program, “Talk of Iowa”.
(Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)