TACOMA READS TOGETHER 2013 >>>

Tacomans looking to join a book club but can't find others who are interested need look no further than their own Tacoma Public Library. I was reminded of this fact searching for the Super Bowl with the remote. Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland's face popped up on the television. Mayor Strickland and Head Bookworm Erik Hanberg were lounging in TV Tacoma's Cityline chairs while host Amanda Westbrooke explored their reading habits. Westbrooke finally eased the audience's tension allowing the annoucement of R.J. Palacio's Wonder as the 2013 Tacoma Reads Together book - the 12thbook since Tacoma educator Patrick Erwin spearheaded the program in 2001 as a way to bring the community together after 9/11.

Hanberg, appointed chair of Tacoma Reads Together in 2010, approached Mayor Strickland with Willow as the book his committee recommended as this year's community reading initiative. The New York Times best seller prompts readers, young and older, to think about how they treat others. Hanberg explained to the Cityline audience the book recounts a year in the life of 10-year-old August, as he grapples with a huge change in his life: he's entering public school for the first time. But Auggie has one thing that other kids don't have: a severely deformed face. Mayor Strickland, who has the final say, gave the thumbs up. In fact, so did Westbrooke, who shared with the audience she home-schooled her child.

With the plethora of books depicting kids as brutal survivors, Wonder celebrates choosing kindness, which is refreshing.

Moderated book discussions and other events will be scheduled around Wonder, including an a free book talk and signing by author R.J. Palacio at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 6 at the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch in downtown Tacoma. Keep an eye on the Tacoma Reads Together website for updates.

Tacoma Reads Together history

2012 - Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella

2011 - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba

2010 - The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

2009 - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

2008 - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

2007 - The Pact by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt

2006 - The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller

2005 - Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

2004 - How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez

2003 - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

2002 - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

LINK: Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland's 2013 State of the City address

LINK: Erik Hanberg writes books