Somerville Reads is a project that promotes literacy and community by encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss books on the same theme. For our third annual program, the subject is food—local, sustainable, delicious!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Somerville Reads 2012

The book for this year's Somerville Reads is Farm City, writer Novella Carpenter's engaging account of starting and running a farm on a vacant lot in Oakland. The book will be a starting point for a city-wide discussion of food: what we eat, why we eat and what should we eat? We'll talk about what it means to eat sustainably in an urban area in the Northeast.

There will also be a strong children's component to Somerville Reads this year. We'll be having two discussions of Paul Fleischman's book Seedfolks, a program based on the folktale Stone Soup, and an exhibit of food-themed art by elementary school students. More details on all of this will be coming soon.

Our kickoff event will start at 1 pm on March 31 at the Somerville Central Library, 79 Highland Avenue. We're having a potluck (so bring one of your favorite dishes) and music by the Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library. We'll also hold a vote on the potluck's best dishes, and the winning cooks will receive gift certificates donated by local restaurants, including Highland Kitchen, Dave's Fresh Pasta, India Palace, Guru and Sherman Cafe. The following week the Mystery Book Club invites everyone to participate in a potluck of dishes inspired by their favorite mystery books, and SPL will host a discussion of Farm City led by Jessie Banzahl of Green City Growers. SPL will also host its own version of The Moth Radio Hour with a community storytelling event (all stories must be food-themed) on April 11.

To recap, the first Somerville Reads events:

Saturday, Mar. 31, 1 p.m.: Kickoff
Wednesday, April 4, 7 p.m.: Mystery Potluck
Thursday, April 5th, 7 p.m.: Discussion of Farm City led by Jessie Banzahl
Wednesday, April 11, 7 p.m.: Community Storytelling
Saturday, April 14, 2 p.m.: Stone Soup
Tuesday, April 17th, 7 p.m.: Discussion of Seedfolks for kids ages 9-12

The events listed above are all taking place at the Central Library, but some of our later events will be in other locations - we'll keep you posted. Stay tuned for further details. In the meantime, relax and enjoy some music: