Will Cather’s “My Ántonia” has been selected to be Plant the Seed, Read! Community Book Read. The Community Book Read is for residents of Kosciusko County from mid-December through March. Free copies of “My Ántonia” by Willa Cather are in bright yellow bins throughout the county. Take, read and enjoy the book. Return the book to the bin so someone else may read the book. The books will be available through March. A limited number of books are available. Therefore, readers are encouraged to download free copies of the book to an e-reader or a computer. Amazon.com has free downloads. Readers also may read the entire book online at http://www.willacather.org For many reasons, Willa Cather’s “My Ántonia” was chosen as the title for the Plant the Seed, Read! Community Book Read. Though Kosciusko Literacy Services did not receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, “My Ántonia” is a Big Read selection and readers’ and teachers’ guides are available online at www.neabigread.org In addition to the books available in the yellow bins in Kosciusko County, Amazon.com has free digital downloads of the book. Readers may use Kindle or the free Cloud Reader. The book also may be read online at www.online-literature.com/willa-cather/my-antonia/ or at www.willacather.org/about-willa-cather/online-texts Lastly, “My Ántonia” continues the themes of Midwestern problems identified in last year’s book read, “Hollowing Out the Middle – The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America.” “My Ántonia” has themes of immigration, poverty and the difficulties of rural life. Immigrants settle on the prairie frontier. Young women move to cities to earn a living. Young men, who went to college, never return to the farm because of opportunities in larger cities. Book discussions are scheduled on: Jan. 30, 6 p.m., Warsaw Community Public Library; Feb. 19, 5:30 p.m., Kosciusko Literacy Services office located in Room 3 of Gateway Education Center (the old Madison Elementary School), light refreshments served; and March 13, 6:30 p.m.m, Syracuse Public Library.
