Charlestown Residents to Examine Undocumented Immigrant Life

WHAT:

Participation by more than 200 Charlestown retirement community residents and staff in a Tuesday, October 21, interactive One Maryland One Book discussion of “The Distance Between Us,” a poignant memoir by Reyna Grande of life before and after entering the United States from Mexico as an undocumented immigrant. This event will also celebrate cultural diversity and family.

This discussion will be held from 11 a.m. – Noon in Charlestown’s Auditorium, 715 Maiden Choice Lane, Catonsville, MD. It is said to be one of the largest intergenerational book discussions of its kind ever held.

The discussion is being conducted under the auspices of the Maryland Humanities Council as part of One Maryland One Book, a project designed to bring together diverse people in communities across the state through the shared experience of reading the same book. It is in partnership with Baltimore County Public Library’s Catonsville Branch and Charlestown’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Cheryl Thurber of the Catonsville Library will facilitate the book discussion, with a panel of invited local guests and audience participation.

ABOUT “The Distance Between Us”:

Reyna Grande vividly brings to life her tumultuous early years in this “compelling....unvarnished, resonant” (Book Page) story of a childhood spent torn between two parents and two countries. As her parents make the dangerous trek across the Mexican border to “El Otro Lado” (The Other Side) in pursuit of the American dream, Reyna and her siblings are forced into the already overburdened household of their stern grandmother. When their mother at last returns, Reyna prepares for her own journey to “El Otro Lado” to live with the man who has haunted her imagination for years, her long-absent father.

Heartbreaking and lyrical, “The Distance Between Us” captures the confusion and contradictions of childhood, reminding us that the joys and sorrows we experienced are imprinted on the heart forever, calling out to us of those places we first called home.

About One Maryland One Book:

In its seventh year, One Maryland One Book is designed to bring together diverse people in communities across the state through the shared experience of reading the same book. Readers are then invited to participate in book-centered discussions and other associated programs at public libraries, high schools, colleges and universities, museums, bookstores, and community and senior centers. Programs will take place each year in the fall.