Tomorrow, if you’re within driving distance of Hudson, Ohio, a good friend from our RA community is hosting a free public celebration of America’s 250th birthday with a Read-In—and I am ridiculously excited about it! (keep scrolling for a booklist!)
Over the past several months, I’ve had the privilege of helping curate a collection of more than 250 literary jewels that tell America’s story through picture books, biographies, novels, songs, recipes, history, and everything in between. They’ll be on display at this event for visitors to browse, read, discuss, and enjoy—and every single title will be available for check-out after the event for members of the Families United Lending Library.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the years I’ve spent learning from Ambre Sautter and for the incredible crowdsourcing in Reshelving Alexandria. Because of that, I was able to expand this project from a nice display on a bookshelf to filling an entire room with a literary journey through America.” — Families United Lending Library
Friends, 250 years is worth celebrating!
We’ve gathered books for every age and interest. Some are beloved classics while others are hidden gems. Some will make you laugh while others will make you cry. Quite a few will probably end up on your wishlist—sorry, not sorry!
One of my favorite things about this Read-In is that it isn’t meant to be a museum exhibit where you slowly walk by and admire the books from a distance. Pull up a chair. Open them. Read them. Bring your kids. Get lost in a stack.
We’ve worked hard to include a huge variety of voices, artists, subjects, and reading levels. Whether you’re looking for stories about inventors, immigrants, presidents, musicians, abolitionists, pioneers, or ordinary people who lived quiet lives and changed the world anyway, there’s something here for you.
And perhaps the best part: every single title on this list is available through Families United Lending Library. If you are local and discover a treasure, you can join their library and have access to check it out!
In an age when it feels like every everything is doom and gloom, local lending libraries are one of the quiet gifts of a healthy community. If you have one in your area, support it. Use it. Tell your friends about it. If you don’t, perhaps this project will inspire you to dream about what one could look like! (We have a LibRArians FB group where we’d love to help guide you in that pursuit!)
And if you already run a lending library, consider this your permission slip to steal the idea! A Read-In is a wonderful way to introduce families to your collection, celebrate a theme, and help people discover books they might never have picked up on their own.
We’ve also made the complete list available as a free Google document for those not in Ohio because good book lists are meant to travel as widely as Lewis and Clark (even if I think Lewis and Clark are over-represented in children’s books and I’d rather read about Zebulon Pike). My hope is that you’ll discover a new favorite, re-find a title you had forgotten, or stumble across a story you didn’t even know you were looking for that feels like a comforting hug.
Because that’s really what this project is about: not just celebrating 250 years of American history, but celebrating the stories that have helped us remember it.
