What if everyone in the city read one book? In 2023, The City Club of Cleveland, Playhouse Square, and nine local public library systems joined together to create a shared reading experience for the Greater Cleveland community. This year’s selection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott, dives deep into the story of Dasani, a child experiencing homelessness in New York City, that takes place over eight years. Readers follow Dasani and her siblings as they deal with hunger, parental drug addiction, violence, housing instability, segregated schools, and the continual monitoring of the child-protection system.
One Community Reads is designed to broaden our appreciation of reading and to encourage friends, families, and neighbors to share their experiences reading the same book. The project is further intended to engage the community in conversations on one of America’s most devastating problems - homelessness.
One Community Reads programming includes book discussions and provocative programs and events centered on the issues Dasani and her family confront in the book – and how we can come together to address the urgent needs of those facing housing insecurity in our communities.
One Community Reads will include a forum with Andrea Elliott on March 6, 2023, in the Mimi Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square. Tickets are free and are available through Playhouse Square.
“Almost nothing counts more than the person who shows up.” ― Andrea Elliott
Shaker Library offers interesting programming to complement this initiative and invites the community to "show up."
From 7-8:30 Wednesday, March 1, the community is invited to a Book Discussion to discuss this year’s book selection and will focus the discussion on Chapters, 13, 33, and 40 of Invisible Child.
On Wednesday, March 8 from 7-8:30 join in a Community Conversation on Poverty in Shaker Heights. Representatives from local organizations will discuss the challenges of poverty in Shaker Heights. Library Director Amy Switzer will lead the discussion and welcomes the community’s ideas on how to meet the challenge.
Saturday, March 25 from 11 am to 2 pm, the Library will hold a Community Resource Fair. Local agencies will be on hand to share resources relating to food, housing, mental health, senior, youth and family services, civic education, and voter registration. Everyone is welcome to browse the tables of local service providers, gathering what they need or want to share with others.
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About Shaker Library
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Shaker Heights Public Library serves the Shaker Heights City School district, which includes the City of Shaker Heights and a portion of the City of Cleveland. It offers library services to a large number of Cleveland residents and others in Cuyahoga County outside its jurisdiction, easily serving up to 100,000 people within its urbanized region. Its mission is “to strengthen our community and transform lives by bringing together people, information, and ideas.”
Shaker Library welcomes, values, and seeks to include people of all races, cultures, religions, socioeconomic statuses, ages, visible and invisible disabilities, political and social viewpoints, sexual orientations, and gender identities.