Library launches Canton Reads 2021

By Bernard Mendillo

Americans love an underdog. Americans certainly love an underdog who’s also American.

How about nine Americans!

Please join the Canton Public Library for the 2021 edition of Canton Reads — featuring the exciting true story The Boys in the Boat by New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown.

Out of the depths of the Great Depression comes this irresistible saga about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times — the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team (and the coxswain makes nine) was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler.

This is a great opportunity for Canton residents to read the same book at the same time and to participate in communal discussions and activities, sharing and learning together.

“We chose this book because of its wide appeal — to men and women and young adults,” said Library Director Andrea Capone. “It’s simply a great American story — of young people coming together, giving it their all, against huge odds, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the world’s most impressive sporting event: the Olympic Games.”

Canton Reads runs from now through the end of April. Many copies of the book are available to borrow or download for free at the library. The book is also available at bookstores and at Amazon, and an audio version is free with an Audible membership.

Community Outreach Librarian Carolyn Elkort explains that the whole idea of Canton Reads is for everyone in the town to be able to read the same book at the same time. “Then the library will hold a series of informative events — all streaming online, because of COVID, during the month of April — where people can learn more about the book and the history and culture behind it.”

Please visit library.canton.ma.us/473/Canton-Reads-2021 for more information and to register for events.

The special programs kick off on Monday, April 12, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Author Elise Hooper will talk about her new historical fiction novel, Fast Girls, A Novel of The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team. A New Englander by birth, Hooper is  drawn to historical figures, especially women, who linger in the footnotes of history books yet have fascinating stories waiting to be told.

Author Arshay Cooper is up next on Thursday, April 15, at 7 p.m., via Zoom. A rower, author, speaker, and activist, Cooper is the author of the memoir A Most Beautiful Thing, which details the first all-black high school rowing team in the U.S. The memory is about how the sport of crew changed his life and how his story can be used as a tool for social change today.

On Wednesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. via Zoom, you can enjoy “The Boys in the Boat: The Rest of the Story,” featuring Jim Pocock, who is  the book’s central figure’s great-nephew. George Y. Pocock was arguably the single most influential man in crew racing for over half a century and a revered mentor to thousands of oarsmen and dozens of coaches throughout the United States.

Then, on Thursday, April 22, at 2 p.m. via Zoom, Professor Gary Hylander will speak on “FDR and the New Deal.” Hylander’s energetic and lively talks are not to be missed. He’ll demonstrate how the New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. He’ll examine the Depression years in America and America’s entrance into the war, and its subsequent emergence as a world superpower.

The next event, on Wednesday, April 28, at 7 p.m. via Zoom, brings the exciting Spirit of the Olympics — an evening with award-winning Boston sports and commercial photographer Damien Strohmeyer. Strohmeyer has been telling stories with photographs for more than three decades. His work has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 70 times!

And there will be other events — dates and times to be determined. For young readers, author Gregory Mone, who adapted a young-readers version of The Boys in the Boat, will give a talk via Zoom. Also for young readers — along with adults — will be a special Olympic Trivia Quiz that should be fun and entertaining!

“We’re so happy that Canton Reads has become an annual event,” Capone said. “Not only does it get people to read, which is always a good thing, it brings the community together.”

Now, more than ever, bringing people together is the great American dream.

Enjoy Canton Reads.

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