To wrap up this year’s Great Michigan Read, the Michigan Humanities Council will host a grand finale event on Monday, June 25 in Traverse City. This finale will be held at the Dennos Museum Center and feature Arc of Justice author Kevin Boyle. This will be an amazing event, providing an opportunity to reflect on the conversations and discussions generated by the Great Michigan Read throughout Michigan.

Tickets are available for $35 and $100. More information is available at the Michigan Humanities Council. For immediate event updates, keep an eye out on the Council's Facebook page.

The Great Michigan Read 2011-2012 is drawing to a close. This year's selection has inspired displays and discussions across the states in public libraries and schools. The author, Kevin Boyle, received his undergraduate degree from University of Detroit-Mercy and his doctorate from University of Michigan. He is presently teaching at Ohio State University. Arc of Justice won the National Book Award in 2004 and was named Michigan Notable Book in 2005.

Has your book group considered reading a book and watching the movie?

The good earth [videodisc] by A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture

The good earth [kit] by Pearl S. Buck; introduced and edited by Peter Conn

To kill a mockingbird [kit] by Harper Lee

The Michigan Humanities Council is proud to feature Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age as the 2011-12 Great Michigan Read. Written by Detroit native Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice tells the story of African American Dr. Ossian Sweet and the chain of events that occurred after he purchased a home for his family in an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925.

Note: Tickets for this event are sold out as of Thursday, April 7, 2011.

Everyone's Reading author, Michael Connelly will talk about his life and experience writing The Lincoln Lawyer, part of the Mickey Haller series. Mr. Connelly will speak on Thursday, April 14 at 2:00PM at The Community House in Birmingham and at 7:30PM at The Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. Tickets are free and available to Canton Public Library cardholders at the library's Adult Reference Desk.

Copies of The Lincoln Lawyer will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of the Book Beat bookstore.

Canton Public Library is part of the Metro Detroit Everyone's Reading 2010: Presumed Innocent, a legal thriller written by Scott Turow and later made into a movie starring Harrison Ford. On Tuesday, March 23, from 7:00 to 8:30PM in the Community Room, Joyce Simowski (Adult Services Librarian) will share her expertise and love of legal thrillers. She'll talk about a few familiar authors and introduce you to some new authors and their characters as well. The Friends of the Canton Public Library will supply prize baskets to a couple of lucky attendees.
No registration required.