Community Reads: Wabasha Reads

Attendance at all of the events was good. The majority of attendees at the author presentation and book discussion were retired. The books distributed around to local businesses and restaurants were well received in the community. A couple of copies were sent to the Wabasha-Kellogg High School and the Librarian said they were picked up by students within a day or two. People in the community were excited and spoke openly about the story and about Kent's visit. The children's event with Native American artist, Mindykowski, had a mixture of adults and children. Only six necklaces were crafted, however, the stories and information shared with the children and adults were well received and enjoyed by everyone. The surveys were very favorable for the chosen book and for the programs. The book evaluations included: "characters interactions - the murder was the subplot!"; "finding the parts that seemed like Ordinary Grace throughout the book"; "I like mysteries and this story had so much more going on besides just the mystery"; and "made me feel like it was real life". I felt the story helped people to see and look for "Ordinary Graces" in their own lives. The young adult participation was lacking, however, it was good to hear the books were chosen to be read at the high school library. The evaluations from Kent's visit were very positive and included the following: "I liked everything, I have never been to a program before"; "the author was open, honest, sincere"; "disclosure of personal memories"; "the humor of the author and the insights into his writing process"; "a compilation of a whole community sharing this common read" and "the author's ease and putting other's at ease". People enjoyed hearing his successes and struggles with his writing process. Twelve evaluations from "Ordinary Grace" were received and 35 evaluations from the author's presentation were recorded. The children and adults interacting with Dick Mindykowski stated the following: "I like the deer antlers and fur"; "I enjoyed learning about the different color beads"; and "Dick was very interesting, I'm glad it was for all ages".
Twelve written evaluations from "Ordinary Grace" were received and 35 written evaluations from the Wm Kent Krueger 's presentation were recorded. The children and adults were interviewed during Dick Mindykowski's visit. We feel this year's Wabasha Reads program was a success. One of the outcomes we were looking for was to build awareness of the Library in the community and hearing peoples comments about the book and the author presentation proved Wabasha Reads was successful. Getting the teens involved will take more effort. The children and adults attending Saturday morning learned about the Ojibwe culture and enjoyed creating the necklaces, all of the community - not a financial expense to the community families.