Washington County, Florida Public Library is joining public libraries across the country in offering access to the same ebook for a two-week period through the Libraries Transform Book Pick. The ebook selection is Lauren Francis-Sharma’s epic saga “Book of the Little Axe,” published by Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic.
During the lending period, Sept. 14-28, ebook copies of “Book of the Little Axe” will be available without waitlists or holds through U.S. public libraries using OverDrive. Readers will only need a library card and the Libby app to borrow and read the ebook.
Ambitious and masterfully wrought, “Book of the Little Axe” is an incredible journey, spanning decades and oceans from Trinidad to the American West during the tumultuous days of warring colonial powers and westward expansion. In a starred review, Booklist said Francis-Sharma “offers fascinating characters across the broad sweep of the American continent at a time of great tumult, warring colonial powers, the spread of slavery, and expansion West” and described the story as a “compelling saga of family bonds, ambitions, and desires, all subject to the vagaries of powerful historical forces.”
Programs like the Libraries Transform Book Pick help showcase how libraries like Washington County Public Library are continuing to serve their communities during challenging times by providing digital content and virtual services people need now more than ever. Over the last few months, the Library has purchased additional digital content including magazines, handed out free meals and snacks to kids courtesy of Feeding the Gulf Coast, and added drive-thru and curbside service at the main library branch in Chipley. A books-by-mail program will be offered later this fall.
The selection of “Book of the Little Axe” for the Libraries Transform Book Pick was made in consultation with experts at Booklist. Atlantic Monthly Press is providing this title to public libraries for simultaneous use for two weeks at no cost.
The Libraries Transform Book Pick program launched last fall with its inaugural selection “After the Flood” by Kassandra Montag, published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
For more information about the Libraries Transform Book Pick, please visit ilovelibraries.org/libraries-transform-book-pick. You can also follow the Libraries Transform Book Pick on ALA’s Facebook and Twitter and join the discussion on social media using the hashtag #LTBookPick.
The Libraries Transform Book Pick is a collaboration between Booklist, the book review magazine of the American Library Association; Libraries Transform, the American Library Association’s public awareness initiative; and OverDrive, ALA Library Champion and lead sponsor of Libraries Transform.
The Washington County Public Library provides materials for checkout, free internet and computer access, copying, faxing, printing, and many more services at four library locations: Chipley, Vernon, Wausau, and Sunny Hills. For more information about the library, call us at 850-638-1314, check out our website at www.wcplfl.com, or check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wcplfl