Join Gulf Coast Reads and Share a Great Book with Your Neighbors
2012 Resource Guide
About Gulf Coast Reads
Gulf Coast Reads: On the Same Page is an area-wide project that focuses on reading. It is hoped that people living in the Houston area will all read the same book at the same time, generating discussion among co-workers, friends, families and classrooms. The goal of Gulf Coast Reads is to cultivate a culture of reading in the Houston area by encouraging people to come together in libraries, bookstores, community centers, homes, churches, and schools to discuss the book. This series is spearheaded by Fort Bend County Libraries, Harris County Public Library, Houston Public Library and Montgomery County Memorial Library System, in collaboration with other local libraries, schools, bookstores and other community organizations. This year’s selection is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Local libraries, bookstores, and community organizations will be hosting book discussions and various other programs throughout the month of October to coincide with this selection. For more information, please visit www.gulfcoastreads.org.
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Gulf Coast Reads Committee Fort Bend County Libraries www.fortbend.lib.tx.us
Inprint www.inprinthouston.org
Harris County Public Library www.hcpl.net
Lee College, Baytown www.lee.edu
Houston Public Library www.houstonlibrary.org
Literacy Advance of Houston www.literacyadvancehouston.org
Montgomery County Memorial Library System www.countylibrary.org
Main Street Theater http://www.mainstreettheater.com Museum of Fine Arts, Houston www.mfah.org
Bellaire Public Library www.ci.bellaire.tx.us
Sterling Municipal Library – City of Baytown www.baytownlibrary.org
Blue Willow Bookshop www.bluewillowbookshop.com Brazoria Public Library System www.bcls.lib.tx.us Brazos Bookstore www.brazosbookstore.com Houston Community College www.hccs.edu Houston Great Books Council www.houstongreatbooks.net Houston Independent School District www.houstonisd.org Houston READ Commission www.houread.org
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About the Author - Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the international bestseller, Everything Is Illuminated, which was published when he was only 25. Hailed as the “debut of the decade,” and translated into 35 languages, it was named Book of the Year by The Los Angeles Times and has won numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Prize. More than 1,500 people voted online for Everything Is Illuminated in the first People’s Choice Award, sponsored by JBooks.com. It was named the decade’s best work of Jewish fiction. A movie based on the book was released by Warner Independent in September 2005, starring Elijah Wood as Jonathan Safran Foer, Eugene Hutz as Alex, with Peter Saraf as producer and Liev Schreiber directing. His second novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, went straight onto national and international bestseller lists. It received the “Literature for Life Award,” the Victoria and Albert Museum Award, and the Prix des libraries du Quebec, and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. A movie based on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was released in 2011 by Scott Rudin Productions in conjunction with Warner Brothers and Paramount Pictures. Named one of Rolling Stone’s “People of the Year” and Esquire’s “Best and Brightest,” Jonathan Safran Foer has had stories published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Conjunctions. He is the editor of a bestselling anthology of writing inspired by the bird boxes of Joseph Cornell, A Convergence of Birds. His libretto “Seven Attempted Escapes from Silence” was performed by the Berlin State Opera House in September 2005. Over the course of 2006, Mr. Foer visited animal farms across the country – from small, family-run organic farms, to factory farms that produce more waste than Los Angeles – in an effort to get at the most fundamental question about food, which is not “Can this be eaten?” but “Should this be eaten?” He documented his road adventure and the ecological crisis he observed in a nonfiction book called Eating Animals which was an instant New York Times and international bestseller. In 2010 he was included on The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list of the best young writers in the US. His most recent project is the New American Haggadah, a new translation of the sacred text, complete with commentary from major Jewish writers and thinkers. Mr. Foer lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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About the Book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone’s heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who’ve lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father’s grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother’s apartment. They are there to dig up his father’s empty coffin.
Other Books by the Author Eating Animals (2009)
Exposes common misconceptions about how animals are slaughtered and processed for food, drawing on sources ranging from popular culture to national tradition to reveal how the meat industry misrepresents its practices.
Everything Is Illuminated (2002) Hilarious, energetic, and profoundly touching, a debut novel follows a young writer as he travels to the farmlands of Eastern Europe, where he embarks on a quest to find Augustine, the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and, guided by his young Ukrainian translator, he discovers an unexpected past that will resonate far into the future.
New American Haggadah (2012) Offers a new translation of the text of prayer and song used by Jewish familes each year to celebrate Passover and the story of Exodus, augmented by commentary by a number of modernday thinkers, including Michael Pollan, Tony Kushner and Judith Shulevitz. - 4-
Reader’s Guide These discussion questions were obligingly provided by NoveList Plus and LitLovers. 1. To what does the book’s title refer? 2. Is Oskar believable as a nine-year-old? Do you find him sympathetic or annoying? Or both? 3. How does the author enhance the storytelling through visual means? Do you find the illustrations, sribblings, over-written texts, etc. a meaningful, integral part of the work, or do you find them distracting and gimmicky? Why are they there? 4. For Shakespeare buffs: Oskar plays ” Yorick” (the long dead jester whose skull Hamlet holds in his hand) in a school production. What is the significance of that role? (See Hamlet: Act V, Scene I, Line 188). 5. Why does Oskar hide his father’s phone calls from his mother? 6. Jonathan Safran Foer has said that he writes about characters and their miscommunications: some characters think they’re saying a lot but say nothing; others say nothing but end up saying a lot. Which characters fall into which category in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? What might Foer be saying about our ability to communicate deep-seated emotions? 7. Some critics have wondered where Oskar’s mother is and how the child is left alone to wander the streets of New York alone at night. Is that a relevant comment? Why would Oskar’s mother allow him to go on these adventures? 8. Do you see this book as a work of realism or as more of a fable? If the latter, what is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a fable of? 9. Why does the author include the story about the grandparents in Dresden? 10. Why does Oskar write to scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Jane Goodall? 11. How do both main plot and subplot (Oskar’s grandfather and the bombing of Dresden) interweave with one another? 12. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not, and how would you change it?
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Other Suggested Reading For Adults
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larson
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
When twelve-year-old cartography genius T.S. Spivet receives a prestigious award, he leaves his quiet ranch home in Montana for Washington, D.C., and he learns more about himself and the world around him on his journey.
A child prodigy with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Ludo’s obsession with Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” and its lessons in Samurai virtue lead him to embark on a quest to find his father, approaching seven men to test their worthiness.
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem Lionel Essrog has always respected Frank Minna, who helped him out when he was young, and when Frank is found dead, Lionel and his friends, the Minna Men, scour the streets of Brooklyn in search of the killer.
How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers A debut collection of short stories presents a compelling cast of characters who struggle with inconvenient revelations, from the deserts of Egypt to the side of Interstate 5.
Saturday by Ian McEwan A successful, happily married neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne is drawn into a confrontation with Baxter, a small-time thug, following a minor motor vehicle accident, an encounter that has savage consequences.
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass The dwarf Oskar Matzerath, who stopped growing physically at three but kept his mental faculties, plays a tin drum with which he stimulates his memory of the 20th century.
Absent Friends by S. J. Rozan The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematicallygifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
The lives of seven childhood friends are forever altered by the dark secrets of the past, until a reporter’s suicide and a colleague’s search for answers in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy--that claimed the life of one of the seven--threatens to unlock their silence.
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell The Bigtree children struggle to protect their Florida Everglades alligator-wrestling theme park from a sophisticated competitor after losing their parents.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss Sixty years after a book’s publication, its author remembers his lost love and missing son, while a teenage girl named for one of the book’s characters seeks her namesake, as well as a cure for her widowed mother’s loneliness. -6-
Other Suggested Reading for teens
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace When his attempts to get to know his dying father fail, William Bloom makes up stories that recreate his father’s life in heroic proportions.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah’s voice recounting the events leading up to her death.
Dancing with Einstein by Kate Wenner Growing up during Cold War fears about atomic war, Marea Hoffman, the daughter of a Manhattan Project scientist, seeks comfort with grandfatherly friend Albert Einstein and struggles with unanswered questions when her father mysteriously dies in a car accident.
Looking for Alaska by John Green Sixteen-year-old Miles’ first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ronald Koertge When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss.
Love Is the Higher Law by David Levithan Three New York City teens express their reactions to the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and its impact on their lives and the world. -7-
Other Suggested Reading One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard When Maureen and Bridget, two sixteen-year-old best friends who look like sisters, are in a terrible car accident and one of them dies, they are at first incorrectly identified at the hospital, and then, as Maureen achieves a remarkable recovery, she must deal with the repercussions of the accident, the mix-up, and some choices she made while she was getting better.
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother’s grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.
Refugees by Catherine Stine Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dawn, a sixteen-year-old runaway from San Francisco, connects by phone and email with Johar, a gentle, fifteen-year-old Afghani who assists Dawn’s foster mother, a doctor, at a Red Cross refugee camp in Peshawar.
Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel Instead of a fresh start, high school provides more grief and isolation to Echo, whose older sister died a year earlier, but insights gained from Zoe’s diary--a fifteenth birthday gift from Zoe’s boyfriend--about her sister’s life and death change Echo in ways she could have never expected.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose bookstealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
Bullyville by Francine Prose After the death of his estranged father in the World Trade Center on 9/11, thirteen-year-old Bart, still struggling with his feelings of guilt, sorrow and loss, wins a scholarship to the local preparatory school and there encounters a vicious bully whose cruelty compounds the aftermath of the tragedy.
For up-to-date information on events, discussions and featured author visit, please visit the Gulf Coast Reads website:
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs After a family tragedy, Jacob feels compelled to explore an abandoned orphanage on an island off the coast of Wales, discovering disturbing facts about the children who were kept there.
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Other Suggested Reading For KIDS Black Jack Jetty: A Boy’s Journey Through Grief by Michael A. Carestio Visiting his family’s summer home on the New Jersey shore, Jack begins to work through his feelings about his father’s death in Afghanistan and to find his place among the cousins and other relatives he had never before met.
Road to Tater Hill by Edith Morris Hemingway In North Carolina during the summer of 1963, eleven-year-old Annie Winters, grief-stricken by the death of her newborn sister and isolated by her mother’s deepening depression, finds comfort in holding a stone “rock baby” and in the friendship of a neighbor boy and a reclusive mountain woman with a devastating secret.
On That Day by Andrea Patel
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Addresses the timely and timeless issue of what to do when bad things happen, encouraging children to be kind, laugh, play, and nurture the Earth.
Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.
The Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker
The Secret Apartment by Natalie Fast
Stella and a foster child named Angel, are living with Stella’s greataunt Louise at the Linger Longer Cottage Colony on Cape Cod when Louise unexpectedly dies. The girls secretly assume responsibility for the vacation rentals to keep from going into the foster-care system.
New to New York City, elevenyear-old Jillian makes friends, spies on her neighbors across the street, and solves a mystery.
Here Lies Linc by Delia Ray
Playing Dad’s Song by D. Dina Friedman
While researching a rumoredto-be-haunted grave for a local history project, twelve-year-old Lincoln Crenshaw unearths some startling truths about his own family.
While wrestling with memories of his father, who died when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, eleven-year-old Gus starts taking oboe lessons, begins to compose music, and joins his sister in auditioning for a school musical.
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff
Comfort Snowberger is acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the heart-wrenching events that begin on the first day of Easter vacation with the death of her great-uncle Edisto.
After her brother Jared dies, Annie worries about the hidden dangers of everything, from bug bites to bicycle riding, until she is befriended by a new neighbor who is grieving her own loss.
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We Want to Hear from You! How did you hear about Gulf Coast Reads?
Where did you get your copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? q Bookstore (which one): q Library (which one): q Other:
Did you think it was a good selection? Why or why not?
Which of the Gulf Coast Reads programs did you attend? Where did you attend these programs?
Thank you for your feedback. It will help in planning future programs and events.
If your organization or book club would like to participate in future Gulf Coast Reads programs, please fill out the form below.
Name of Book Club or Organization_______________________________ Contact Name_________________________________________________ Email________________________________________________________ Telephone____________________________________________________ Please complete and return this evaluation to: Gulf Coast Reads c/o Programming Department Houston Public Library 500 McKinney St. Houston, TX 77002 - 10 -
Gulf Coast Reads Events are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit: www.gulfcoastreads.org
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