Green Card Stories

AA / YPSI READS

Join us as author Saundra Amrhein shares life stories depicted in her book, "Green Card Stories," including the legal, social, emotional, financial, and spiritual obstacles that mirrors what immigrants continue to face across the USA. This event is held in conjunction with Ann Arbor District Library’s film and discussion series Latino Americans: 500 Years of History. "Green Card Stories" depicts 50 recent U.S. immigrants—each with permanent residence or citizenship—in powerfully written short narratives and compelling portraits. Each story is as old as the foundation of this nation, but also reflects the global trends and conflicts of the 21st century. Arriving from all corners of the globe, coming for work, love, to study, invest, or escape persecution, the people in this book share a steely resourcefulness and a determination to fulfill their potential in America. Saundra Amrhein is a freelance journalist, writer, author, speaker and reporter writing articles, news and blogs about Immigration and Cuba. A former reporter at the St. Petersburg Times, she has been a journalist for more than 21 years, focusing on immigration, asylum, and refugee issues. She is currently a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Get More Out Of This Year's Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads

If you’re ready for Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads 2016, be sure to check out the Reads Website! At aaypsireads.org, you’ll find all sorts of information and resources to help you get more out of this year’s Read and how to lead your own community discussion.

If you still need to get a copy of The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, stop in to any location and pick one up from the display shelf or head over to the catalog and choose from several different formats. We have paperbacks, large print, audiobooks, and even a Spanish translation. Copies of the book are also available at the Ypsilanti District Library and at area bookstores.

Take a look at the Resources page, with loads of resources especially for book clubs following along with the Read. There is a Reader’s Guide with discussion questions, tips for hosting a book discussion and keeping it on track, and even download-and-print posters to promote your book discussion or other Reads-related event. If you do plan to host an event, let us know! We’ll list it with other Reads-related programming throughout January and February, including our Latino Americans: 500 Years of History film series. You can also find lists of films about the Latino experience and immigration, a few podcasts about the book and Latino culture, and the author's recommendations of the best books of 2015.

Finally, be sure to mark your calendar for a special visit from the author, Cristina Henriquez, on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 pm. Ms. Henriquez will be at the Towsley Auditorium on the campus of Washtenaw Community College to discuss her writing and especially The Book of Unknown Americans. Books will be for sale, and there will also be a booksigning following the talk.

ANN ARBOR/ YPSILANTI READS 2016 - Lists for KIDS

COMING SOON to a Library near YOU!
Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads begins in January 2016.

This year's community read is:
The BOOK OF UNKNOWN AMERICANS: A Novel by Christina Henriquez.
The story in a nutshell ... The Rivera family is moving from Mexico to America when their daughter suffers a near-fatal accident.
The Riveras confront cultural barriers, during their daughter's difficult recovery, and her developing relationship with a Panamanian boy.
The story brings out family feelings from different Latin American points of view.

Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Librarians created two reading lists especially for youth readers.
Kids Grades K-8 can read and join family discussions of immigrants and immigration issues.

Ann Arbor/ Ypsilanti Reads 2016 - Grades K-5.

Ann Arbor/ Ypsilanti Reads 2016 - Grades 6-8.

The Votes Are In!

AA / YPSI READS

The votes are in and the judges have spoken: the 2016 Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads has been chosen! Our next community read is The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez.

The book won awards and received critical acclaim for its story of hopes, dreams, love, and what it means to be an American. It centers on the story of a fifteen-year-old girl, Maribel, whose family must leave their life in Mexico so she can receive medical care. She falls in love with the neighbor's son, and their love has the potential to devastate everyone involved. The story includes viewpoints from both families, and immigrants from all over Latin America.

This year’s Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads theme is A Very Good Read and will take place during January and February 2016. You can learn more about Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads, the book, and planned events on the AAY Reads website, or place a hold on the book from the Ann Arbor District Library.

Revving Up for the Reads

AA / YPSI READS

The finalists for this year’s Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads have been chosen! They are The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, a work of fiction, and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, a work of non-fiction. More information about the books is available on the finalists page of the Reads website.

For more than 10 years, the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti communities have come together to share the same book during Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads. This year’s theme is “A Very Good Read,” and may be a work of fiction or non-fiction. A panel of local individuals will read both books and determine which one will be the official Read for 2016, which will take place in January and February. If you’d like to participate now, you can read both books, available in stores and at your local library, and leave your comments on the books’ pages at Washtenawreads.

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads is a community initiative to promote reading and civic dialogue through the shared experience of reading a book. It was launched in 2003 by the University of Michigan Life Sciences, Values, and Society Program, and was modeled after a program started by the Seattle Public Library. Now, the Reads program is co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti District Libraries and supported by interested civic groups, the University of Michigan School of LS&A, the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Public Schools, local bookstores, Eastern Michigan University Libraries and Washtenaw Community College.

The Book of Unknown Americans

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez

Arturo Rivera was the owner of a construction company in Pátzcuaro, Mexico. One day, as his beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, Maribel, is helping him at a work site, she sustains an injury that casts doubt on whether she’ll ever be the same again. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better.

When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core.

Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Central and Latin America. Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart.

What did you think of this book? Tell us!

Just Mercy

Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machinations, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of justice.

What did you think of this book? Tell us!

Suggest A Title For Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Reads 2016

Read a good book lately?

Suggest a good book to the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads planning committees and your suggestion might be selected for the upcoming Read (which will take place in January & February 2016). Committees will be meeting over the summer to consider hundreds of possible titles – and they want your help!

You can suggest a title by visiting the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads website. Suggest a title by June 15 and it will be considered for selection in the Fall.

Launched in 2003, Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads is a community initiative to promote reading and civic dialogue through the shared experience of reading and discussing a common book. Help make the 2016 Read the best ever!

Suggest a Title: 2016

AA / YPSI READS

Suggest A Title For Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Reads 2016

Read a good book lately?

Suggest a book that you believe is a very good read to the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads planning committees and your suggestion just might be the pick for the upcoming Reads (which will take place in January & February 2016). The book selected can be a work of fiction or non fiction.

Committees will be meeting over the summer to consider hundreds of possible titles – and they want your help!

You can suggest a title by commenting below .

Book Selection

• The writing should be engaging and thought-provoking.
• The subjects discussed should be accessible to readers throughout the community, high-school age and above.
• The length, price, and availability of the book should be suited to involvement by the general public.
• The book should be by a living author.
• Its treatment of issues should encourage readers to discuss the issues further with others, at home, work, reading clubs, and community events.
• Ideally, the subject should lead to constructive dialogues across our diverse communities.

Suggest a title by June 15 and it will be considered for selection!

AA/Ypsi Reads 2015 Book Chosen!

AA / YPSI READS

The votes are in and it's been decided this year's book for the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Reads 2015 will be A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

The theme was A Very Good Read. A five-member panel consisting of: area blogger Mark Maynard; Ann Arbor News Entertainment Reporter Jenn McKee; Musician San Slomovits; Ypsilanti City Council Member Dan Vogt; and Ann Arbor City Council Member Chuck Warpehoski - chose the book earlier this month from two finalist titles.

A brilliant, unforgettable novel, A Tale For the Time Being is an inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home. Published in 2014, the novel won the Medici Book Club Prize the L.A. Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the award-winning author of three novels, "My Year of Meats," "All Over Creation," and "A Tale for the Time Being." Her critically acclaimed independent films, including "Halving the Bones," have been screened at Sundance and aired on PBS.

Read "A Tale For the Time Being" with your community and be sure to see the author who is scheduled to appear at the annual Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads event on Wednesday, February 11 from 7 – 8:30 pm at Rackham Auditorium!