Upcoming Events
April 11th from 5:30pm – 6:30pm: Register for a reception for Javier Zamora before the Reading Across Rhode Island Author Event at Ochre Court, Salve Regina University $35 includes food, wine and beer, and book signing. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
April 11th from 7:00pm – 8:00pm : Register for the Reading Across Rhode Island Author Event with Javier Zamora at Bazarsky Hall, Salve Regina University. FREE and open to all. Registration required. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
March 13th : An Evening for Educators: featuring an exciting combination of educators, students, community members and organizations, who shared personal and professional experiences. Here is the folder with the webinar recording, PD Certificate, slideshow presentation, and other various resources
Resources
- Reading Across Rhode Island 2024 Programming Guide and Resources Directory
- 2024 LibGuide from the RI Office of Library & Information Services
Reading Across Rhode Island, Rhode Island’s One Book, One State community read program kicks off its 22nd year by encouraging everyone to read Solito by Javier Zamora with this year’s Honorary Chair Teddi Jallow, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Refugee Dream Center.
I absolutely love that this year’s selection is representative of some of the many stories that refugees and immigrants who migrate to the US share. I would love to serve as an example of the many organizations that are trying to do incredible work with assisting refugees once they resettle. – Teddi Jallow
Reading Across Rhode Island is a program of the Rhode Island Center for the Book, made possible through a vibrant collaboration of librarians, teachers, book group leaders and readers from across the state.
About This Year’s Book
A young poet tells the inspiring story of his migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this “gripping memoir” (NPR) of bravery, hope, and finding family.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Vulture, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews
New York Times Bestseller • Read With Jenna Book Club Pick as seen on Today • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiography • Winner of the American Library Association Alex Award
About the Author
Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990. His father fled the country when he was one, and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents’ migrations were caused by the U.S.- funded Salvadoran Civil War. When he was nine Javier migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert. His debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, explores the impact of the war and immigration on his family. Zamora has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and holds fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
Past Events
Reading Across Rhode Island Kicks Off at the Rhode Island State House on February 3rd from 2:00 – 4:00pm.
Readers are invited to join Honorary Chair Teddi Jallow, Reading Across Rhode Island Education Chair Maureen Nagle, and Reading Across Rhode Island Chair Amy VanderWeele for an engaging introduction to the book. Registration opening soon at ribook.org.
RARI Honorary Chair: Teddi Jallow
Teddi is a refugee from The Gambia. She arrived in the US in 2009, and since then she has been an ardent community advocate, especially on issues affecting refugees. She represents the organization at various partner activities and leads community organizing efforts within the refugee community. She’s an alum of Equity Leadership Initiative of Rhode Island.
Language(s) spoken: English, Fula, Mandinka, Wolof
Contact Kate Lentz at kate@ribook.org for sets of books available to classroom teachers, library discussion groups and senior centers. Further reading lists, book discussion guides, the author’s website, audio interviews and other supplementary materials may be found on the Rhode Island Center for the Book website at ribook.org. Rhode Island Center for the Book lives and breathes the mission of providing books and learning opportunities for schools, libraries, and other amazing organizations throughout Rhode Island. The Center promotes an equitable and just world through reading and education, actively supporting our local communities by partnering with Rhode Island independent bookstores. Reading Across Rhode Island is the Center’s “One Book One State” community read program that promotes a single book to help stimulate meaningful discussions across our state. Founded in 2003, the RI Center for the Book is the state affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and resides at The Pell Center at Salve Regina University. |
Past RARI Selections
2022 Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
2021 STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You
2020 Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
2019 What the Eyes Don’t See by Mona Hanna-Attisha
2018 The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
2017 Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
2016 The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
2015 Norwegian By Night by Derek Miller
2014 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
2013 The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb
2012 Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
2011 The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney
2010 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows
2009 Five Skies by Ron Carlson
2008 Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2007 The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
2006 Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
2005 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2004 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
2003 Wish You Well by David Baldaci
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