Read Together Palm Beach County 2014: Cast Your Ballot!

This year, I’m serving as an Ambassador for the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County’s “Read Together Palm Beach County” campaign.

The purpose of this campaign is to involve 10,000 – 20,000 adults throughout Palm Beach County in reading the same book at the same time. This community reading campaign will entice adults who can read, but often don’t, to get involved in the habit of reading again. It will also promote community dialogue and engagement as citizens gather together to discuss key themes.

I invite you to participate in the first stage of this campaign: selecting the book that we will “read together” as a county. Ballot boxes have been placed at locations throughout the county–including at almost all Starbucks locations in the county. You can also vote online by clicking here: http://pbpost.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=116141. Voting will continue through February 7. The finalists in this year’s voting are as follows:

  •  Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman
    Review  |  Buy Online
    George Dawson was born in a small East Texas town in 1898. As a young boy, he dreamed of going to school but, forced to work at an early age, he never had the chance – until he was 98 years old and learned to read through an adult literacy program in Texas. In this autobiography Dawson leads us from segregation to civil rights, from Texas to Canada and from hardship to happiness.
  • The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Steadman
    Review  |  Buy Online
    After four harrowing years on the front lines of World War I, Tom Sherbourne finds solace as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, an isolated island outpost off the coast of Australia. He is joined by a young and loving wife, Isabel, whose dream of having a child is drifting heartbreakingly out of reach. When a boat washes up carrying a dead body and a crying baby, Isabel embraces the infant as a gift. The devastating implications of their choice are revealed in this complex tale of longing and loss.
  • The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
    Review  |  Buy Online
    Following a broken engagement, Honor Bright sails across the ocean in search of a new beginning. She settles in Ohio in 1859 and is soon drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad. In a land where life is practical, precarious and largely unsentimental, Honor, must decide if conscience and principle are luxuries she can no longer afford or essentials she cannot live without.
  • The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
    Review  |  Buy Online
    What would you do if you knew the world was coming to an end? With an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, suicide is rampant and millions around the globe walk away from their jobs to pursue their bucket lists. Despite the seeming hopelessness – Hank Palace, a recently promoted homicide detective, is keeping his nose to the grindstone. In this surprising mystery, he’s out to prove the dead body found in a local McDonald’s isn’t the suicide everyone else wants to believe it is, but murder.
  • The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
    Review  |  Buy Online
    Victoria Jones grew up in the foster-care system. When she turns 18 and “ages out” of the system, she has nowhere to go, no one to rely on and few skills. What she does have, however, is an unusual gift – the ability to use flowers to help other people find meaning in their lives. This unforgettable novel beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of a woman whose gift helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

Thanks for participating, and for helping to promote literacy in Palm Beach County!