Community-wide reading campaign emphasizes building community through stories.
For the last decade people around the country have been coming together to build community through stories. Habersham County is joining this national movement with One Book Habersham, Together We Read.
Everyone in Habersham County is encouraged to join in this inaugural event by reading the first featured book Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy. Agra Deedy is an award winning author and storyteller who came to Georgia as a refugee from Cuba in the early 1960’s.
Level Grove Elementary School Media Specialist and event organizer Helen O’Brien says, “Martina the Beautiful Cockoach is a folktale that highlights the wisdom of our elders and the importance of family and cultural traditions.”
Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 5, hundreds of copies of the book will be available for you to pick up at Habersham County’s public libraries and schools. O’Brien urges you to, “Read it, sign it and pass it on for others to enjoy.” THEN, on March 27 join your fellow readers, friends and neighbors in the Habersham Central High School cafeteria at 6:30pm for an open book discussion. That will be followed by storytelling by the author herself, Carmen Agra Deedy, in the HCHS Fine Arts Auditorium beginning at 7:30pm.
One Book Habersham, Together We Read is made possible through a community partnership between the Habersham County School System, Volunteers for Literacy of Habersham County, local civic organizations and businesses.
Read the book. Talk it up. Ask your neighbor, “Have you read Martina?” Let’s see how many people in Habersham County we can get to say “Yes!”
