tale for three counties

Members of the "Tale for Three Counties" committee were presented with the Richmond Memorial Library's 2012 "Friend of the Year" award today at a public reception in the library's Gallery Room.

This award is given each year in recognition of a person or group that has gone above and beyond in support of the Richmond library. According to Paula Haven, Teen Services librarian and staff liaison to the Friends of the Library, "A Tale for Three Counties" met the criteria.

"This is their 10th anniversary," Haven said. "Not all library programs enjoy such longevity."

"A Tale for Three Counties" began when a group of public librarians from Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties got together and proposed an idea for an area-wide book discussion program. Over the years, they have garnered the support of such organizations as Genesee Community College, GoArt!, the Genesee Valley BOCES School Library System, Wal-Mart and Time Warner.

Each year, participants read and discuss books that meet the following guidelines (taken from the program's website): 

• It must be a work of fiction
• It must appeal to both adult and teen readers
• It must have literary merit as evidenced by professional reviews or awards
• It must present the theme of rural family life or local history
• It must have issues or topics to discuss
• It must introduce a new or relatively unknown author to readers

Another perk of this program is that the authors come to the area to give talks every year (click to read an article on the Garth Stein visit in 2010).

Here are some quotes from authors who have visited Genesee County for this program:

"Call: My agent on the phone telling me that my book 'The Call' had been chosen as the one book for 'A Tale for Three Counties.'

"Action: Cheered and then gladly accepted.

"Result: Was greeted so warmly by all involved with the Tale I considered that the place was possibly enchanted and I had crossed over into a better world."

-Yannick Murphy, author of "The Call"

"I really had the sense, during the three days I participated in the Tale for Three Counties, that the program was reaching all sorts of people who otherwise would not be reading literature, opening their minds to its possibilities and encouraging future explorations of books while also uniting the community. It was a great honor to participate in such a worthy program."

- Hillary Jordan, author of "Mudbound" 

How often does this happen? Batavia got a visit from two acclaimed authors last week -- two days in a row!

The first was Garth Stein, author of the 2010 Tale for Three Counties committee pick, "The Art of Racing in the Rain." At the committee's invitation, Stein came to speak to readers and sign autographs at the Richmond Memorial Library on Thursday night.

This latest work is Stein's third novel and it's about a Seattle family as told by none other than -- Enzo, the family dog.

Stein's book had the honor of a 38-week streak on the New York Times bestseller list, won several awards and honors, and has been translated into 31 languages. Stein recently signed a film deal with Universal Studios and hopes to see the book made into a movie in the near future.

The second author was award-winning children's writer Robert D. San Souci, who came to speak to the children and sign autographs at John Kennedy Elementary School Friday afternoon.

San Souci's works include "The Talking Eggs," "Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella," the "Dare to be Scared" series and "The Legend of Scarface." He also wrote the story for the 1998 Disney film "Mulan." His visit to JK was arranged by Donna Katter, program assistant for Genesee Valley BOCES' School Library System.

Whether you were in the almost-over-crowded reading room at RML or sitting in the school cafeteria as hand after hand after hand shot up from the crowd of fifth-graders during the Q&A session, you would have gotten a good idea of just how much people still appreciate their writers.

Both authors read portions of their books and shared funny anecdotes from their lives and careers, including the setbacks they have faced while trying to get their work published.

Stein, for example, talked about having gone from one agent to another before he finally found someone who wanted to take a chance on a book narrated by a dog.

San Souci -- who realized he was destined to become a writer in second grade -- said that he wrote persistently for many years, facing a long string of what he called "thanks, but no thanks" letters from publishers.

Both men were kind enough to share some of their thoughts, insights and comments with The Batavian after signing autographs -- at RML and the JK Media Center, respectively.