In the last four years, hundreds of people have participated in Howard County Reads, the annual community-wide reading program sponsored by the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library and Greentown Public Library. The concept of “One Book” projects around the world began in 1998 by the Washington Center for the Book in Seattle, Washington and was introduced in our community in 2004.

Past Howard County Reads selections include:

• O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
• Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Our libraries began gathering nominations for the next great book in January 2008 and kept nominations open for several months. A community selection committee will meet in late spring and narrow the list to 20 titles. Later the committee will narrow the list to the top five, and then the winning title will be selected in the summer. The events planned around the selected title will take place in the fall.

The following criteria were considered for nominated books for Howard County Reads:

• well-written
• appropriate for group discussions
• available in paperback and other formats
• interesting to adults
• not too long

See the full list of Nominated Books