Woodland Reads is a Woodland Community-wide Reading Event based on the model developed in Seattle**.  Each year a selected book is read by local high schools,  book clubs and members of the community. Like many similar events in  American cities and on college campuses, Woodland Reads is designed to foster literacy, acceptance and respect.

A unique feature of the Woodland Reads program is that the author(s) spends at least a day in Woodland interacting with student and adult readers.

Beginning in 2002, the Woodland community began reading together with The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez. Subsequent selections have included Mas Masumoto’s Epitaph for a Peach (2003), The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2004), Jennifer Traig’s Devil in the Details (2006), Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream by Greg Sarris (2008), Sue Bigelow and Janice Goldberg’s play Rose Colored Glass (2009) and Maisie Dobbs: A Novel by Jacqueline Winspear (2010).

Meg Stallard, a member of the Woodland Reads team says, “We’ve been pleased with the community support we have received over the years for this important literary program. Each year participation seems to grow, and  community organizations are so generous. We couldn’t bring in all these  great authors without their support.”

For Further Information: Have questions about Woodland Reads? Please call 530-666-0154, 530-666-0678 or email: inquiries@woodlandreads.org

Woodland Reads Team:

      Sandra Briggs
      Marsha Toy Engstrom
      Wayne Ginsburg
      Kathy Harryman
      Sheila Johnston
      Diane Mahan
      Dena Martin
      Dona Mast
      Beth Merrill
      Heather Muller
      Bob Salley
      Judy Simas
      Meg Stallard
      Linda Weesner

** One City, One Book Background: The first One City, One Book program was "If All of Seattle Read the  Same Book" in 1998, started by Nancy Pearl at the Seattle Public Library's Washington Center for the Book. Many communities have piggy-backed on  Ms. Pearl’s idea, and have adopted this community practice from big towns, including San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, as well as small towns like Sonoma (CA), Clarendon Hills (IL) and New Rochelle (NY.) Ms. Pearl warns that the goals of the program should be literary and not political, "Keep in mind that this is a library program. It's not an exercise in civics. It's not intended to have literature cure the racial divide. This is  about a work of literature."