Arts & Entertainment
Saint Paul Public Library Launches One Book | One Minnesota Book Club
The program aims to bring Minnesotans closer together during this time of distance and adversity.
One Book | One Minnesota is a new statewide book club that invites Minnesotans of all ages to read a common title and come together virtually to enjoy, reflect, and discuss.
Libraries are essential for connection, and through One Book | One Minnesota, libraries across the state will connect their communities through stories. The program aims to bring Minnesotans closer together during this time of distance and adversity.
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The first featured book selection is Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press).
Access the digital book for free on Ebooks Minnesota for eight weeks.
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Hard copies of the book will be available through Red Balloon Bookshop and other independent stores across the state.
Kate DiCamillo’s writing journey has been a truly remarkable one. She grew up in Florida and moved to Minnesota in her twenties, when homesickness and a bitter winter led her to write Because of Winn-Dixie — her first published novel, which became a runaway bestseller and snapped up a Newbery Honor. That book celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2020, and has almost 12 million copies in print.
The Tiger Rising, her second novel, was also set in Florida and went on to become a National Book Award finalist. Since then, the bestselling author has explored settings as varied as a medieval castle and a magician’s theater while continuing to enjoy great success, winning two Newbery Medals and being named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
In 2016, Kate DiCamillo published her most autobiographical novel to date, Raymie Nightingale, which was a National Book Award finalist. And then, for the first time ever, she returned to the world of a previous novel in Louisiana’s Way Home to tell us more about a character that her fans already knew and loved. That novel garnered seven starred reviews and was, like its predecessor, a #1 New York Times bestseller. And now Kate DiCamillo returns once more to complete the Three Rancheros’ stories by writing a book about tough-as-nails Beverly Tapinski.
Kate DiCamillo’s books’ themes of hope and belief amid impossible circumstances and their messages of shared humanity and connectedness have resonated with readers of all ages around the world. In her instant #1 New York Times bestseller The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, a haughty china rabbit undergoes a profound transformation after finding himself face down on the ocean floor — lost and waiting to be found. The Tale of Despereaux — the Newbery Medal–winning novel that later inspired an animated adventure from Universal Pictures — stars a tiny mouse with exceptionally large ears who is driven by love to become an unlikely hero. The Magician’s Elephant, an acclaimed and exquisitely paced fable, dares to ask the question What if ? And Kate DiCamillo’s second Newbery Medal winner, Flora & Ulysses, was released in 2013 to great acclaim, garnering five starred reviews and an instant spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
Born in Philadelphia but raised in the South, Kate DiCamillo now lives in Minneapolis.
One Book | One Minnesota is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, as the Minnesota Center for the Book, in partnership with State Library Services. Program partners include Candlewick Press, Council of Regional Public Library System Administrators, Minitex (a joint program of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education), and Minnesota Department of Education.
This press release was produced by the Saint Paul Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.