April 21, 2013
04/22/13 For the second year in a row, Plymouth has a World Book Night distribution spot. This year, the free book will be Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan, which will be available on a first-come, first-served basis starting April 23, at Jones, Huff and Jones at 550 East Jefferson Street in Plymouth, while supplies last.
World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person. Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and nonreaders.
Amanda Petrucelli, a legal secretary for the local law firm, was chosen to give the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver last year as librarian and information technology assistant at Jefferson Elementary.
“I was thrilled to be chosen again this year. The number of readers who came to me after reading and loving last year’s selection was the kind of thing that keeps me going. To get others to read and think deeper is a valuable goal and one I support fully. Thankfully, the attorneys at Jones, Huff and Jones agree with me and welcome readers to come pick up a book.” she said.
Mudbound, is the winner of the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Fiction and an Alex Award from the American Library Association. It was named the NAIBA Fiction Book of the Year and one of the Top Ten Debut Novels of the Decade by Paste magazine.
“I’ve read it,” Petrucelli said, “It’s a real page-turner.”
According to World Book Night literature, Mudbound takes place in 1946. “City-‐bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm—a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-‐in–law, is everything her husband is not – charming, handsome, and haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero. But no matter his bravery in defense of his country, he is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow South. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion.”
“According to Jordan’s story, black American soldiers in Europe during World War II were treated as heroes and equals there. They came back to the U.S. to segregationist and racist policies,” Petrucelli said. “The book is partly about the relationship between a white and black solider who have moved beyond that way of thinking in a world that had not. But it is also a book about the challenges of farming.”
The World Book Night organization believes reading for pleasure improves literacy by actively engaging emerging readers in their desire to read. “Reading changes lives, improves employability, social interaction, enfranchisement, and can have a positive effect on mental health and happiness. Book readers of all ages are more likely to participate in positive activities such as volunteering, attending cultural events, and even physical exercise. Or more simply put, books are fun—and they can be life-changing,” they said.
Petrucelli said, “I hope to see people at Jones, Huff and Jones starting April 23 for their free book!”