Sandy Springs Reads Hopes To Build Community, Promote Literacy

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Avid readers around the city will once again join other towns across the nation in promoting literacy and building a sense of community by participating in the Sandy Springs Reads One City, One Book event.

“The Distance Between Us,” a memoir by Reyna Grande, has been selected as the 2015 Sandy Springs Reads book.

This acclaimed book chronicles Grande’s immigrant experience as a young girl who was born in Mexico and raised by her grandparents while her parents left to find work in the United States.

At nine years old, Grande entered the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant to live with her father, where she learned that the separation between a child and a parent can be measured as much in emotional distance and abandonment as it can be in miles.

Grande tells an engaging story about the immigration experience and the reality that affects millions of people every day.

Companion books for younger readers include “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Munoz Ryan for middle schoolers, and “Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin” by Duncan Tonatiuh, a picture book for younger readers.

Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting proclaimed that day as Sandy Springs Reads Day in recognition of the event’s contribution to literacy promotion in the City.

“Please read this great book and join friends and neighbors for a series of Sandy Springs Reads programs during the month of October, sponsored by Art Sandy Springs,” said Christine Heller, chairperson of the event. “Our celebration this year just happens to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, and we encourage our local readers to learn something about the Mexican-American immigration experience from the point of view of a person who has been through it.”

Highlights of the month-long event include volunteers reading to public school children, and story times and book discussions at the Sandy Springs Library and in school book clubs. The literary events culminate with an artist talk by Marco Razo at Abernathy Arts Center, a night of music from South of the Border at Steve’s Live Music and a latin dance demonstration/class at Paso Fino Latin Dance Studio in Sandy Springs.

Sandy Springs Reads is a collaborative effort and partnership of Art Sandy Springs, Sandy Springs Education Force, Sandy Springs Mission, Los Ninos Primero, Altrusa, Friends of the Sandy Springs Library and the Sandy Springs Branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Library System.

For program information and updates, visit www.sandyspringsreads.org.

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