Today at 11:00 a.m., a press conference was held in the Central Library's Main Lobby to announce the featured title for 2007's One Book, One Philadelphia. Carlos Eire's 2003 National Book Award-winning memoir, Waiting for Snow in Havana- Confessions of a Cuban Boy, was chosen. Telling the story of Mr. Eire's childhood in Cuba and later, as one of 14,000 children airlifted to the United States following the Revolution, the book is at once entertaining and tragic, but above all, inspiring. In order to include the widest range of readers, two thematically related books geared towards children, teens, and families were selected as well--Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan (5th-8th grade), and Coming to America: the Story of Immigration, by Betsy Maestro (K-4).
Following the press event, Dr. Eire spoke to a teen audience as part of the Field Family Teen Author Series about the nature of memory and history and his experience writing the book. |
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