Wednesday, March 11, 2015
B1
Feasting
on
Words
Library and other
literacy groups
celebrate language
Bidders mingled among
books at Saturday’s suc-
cessful Feast of Words
fundraiser for Hood River
County Library.
Students mixed words
with teachers – in a good
way – at the recent SMART
Tongue Twister Tourna-
ment.
People in Hood River
County are indeed feasting
on language, and mixing in
a variety of ways to share
the written or spoken word.
A favorite reading pro-
gram for the whole commu-
nity – with a few new twists
and plenty of activities –
retur ns March 15. It’s
called Hood River Reads.
The Gorge Literary Jour-
nal takes shape starting
this spring, with poetry, fic-
tion and essay submissions
invited by April 22.
Details about Hood River
Reads and “Gorge Lit” are
below.
Meanwhile, Hood River
County schools held nu-
merous reading-related
events celebrating the writ-
ten word, and the March 2
birthday of Dr. Seuss (see
photos).
Parents and kids gather
for Scrabble once a month
at Parkdale Elementary,
and upcoming programs at
the library focus on the
book “Insurgent” — trivia
challenge on March 20 —
and the Belgian graphic
novels of “Tintin” — book
giveaway, movie screening
and more on March 25. (See
library website for details.)
“The Foundation is so
thankful to our community
for the tremendous support
this year for the Feast of
Words,” said foundation
chair Jen Bayer. “With
wonderful sponsors and a
great turnout for the party,
we were able to bring in
over $30,000 for revitalizing
the Georgiana Smith
Memorial Gardens. We
couldn’t do this without the
tremendous generosity of
our local merchants in
ter ms of donations of
amazing food, beverages,
music, and auction items.
Thanks to everyone who
donated or volunteered; we
can all look forward to
reading a good book in the
beautiful Gardens later
this year.”
Amber and the Pale Ales
(Amber Nelson, Glen Hol-
comb, Rob Guidera and
George Bentz) performed,
Gavin McAlpine and foun-
dation board member Car-
olyn Welty-Fick led the auc-
tion, and local restaurants
and purveys of wine and
beer provided ample culi-
nary accompaniments.
The night of food, music
and silent and live auctions
raised funds to upgrade
plantings and amenities,
and repair portions of the
irrigation district at the
Gardens, located on the
north, south and west sides
of the downtown library.
Marion McNew of Mount
Hood Gardens plans to re-
store planting areas and re-
place some sections with
new and drought-resistant
foliage. Benches will be up-
graded and planting beds
brought back to the condi-
Cascade Locks, submitted photo; Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
CASCADE LOCKS’ Benjamin Harestad shows his headgear for last Tuesday’s Hat Day at Cascade Locks School. (Details on page B6.)
At top right, Luis Alberto Urea’s “Into the Beautiful North” anchors 2015 Hood River Reads activities. Feast of Words fundraiser atten-
dees peruse varied silent auction items Saturday among the stacks in the Library’s historic reading room. The event surpassed the
$25,000 goal. At top original 2005 garden design detail.
HR Reads kicks off Sunday
Hood River County Reads
is kicking off its 2015 season
on March 15 with a special
event at the Hood River Li-
brary beginning at 2 p.m.;
related kickoffs will be held
at the Parkdale and Cascade
Locks libraries on March 17
beginning at 5 p.m.
Hood River County Reads
is a community-wide pro-
gram for readers of all ages,
with titles chosen to repre-
sent the cultural diversity of
the valley. It began in 2006,
with local author Virginia
Euwer Wolff‘s novel “Bat 6,”
about the Japanese experi-
ence after World War II, and
has run every year since —
with the exception of 2011,
when the library was closed
due to budget cuts.
This year, there are two
books: “Into the Beautiful
North” by Luis Alberto
Ur rea, and “Becoming
Naomi León” by Pam
Munoz Ryan. Helen James,
Hood River County Reads
Chair, with committee mem-
bers Mole Schaefer, Pat
Schmuck, Gale Ar nold,
Jean Har mon, Elizabeth
Garbor, Fran Finney and
Assistant Library Director
Rachel Fox, chose books
that are a “good read for a
wide range of the communi-
ty,” said James. “It has to be
accessible, fun to read, and
tell us something about who
we are.”
Both books are available
in English and Spanish.
James said 1,000 books were
purchased for the program:
500 copies of “Into the Beau-
tiful North” in English, with
another 175 in Spanish; 325
copies of “Becoming Naomi
León” for classroom sets at
the elementary and middle
schools to read in class; and
20 copies of Urrea’s other
works (fiction, nonfiction
and poetry), which are now
available for checkout.
While “Becoming Naomi
León” is taught to the
younger grades, “Into the
Beautiful North” will be
taught at the high school
level. Both share the com-
mon themes of borders,
growing up, searching for a
hero and family.
According to a press re-
lease, “’Into the Beautiful
North’ is the story of 19-
year-old Nayeli, who lives in
a remote Mexican village
and dreams of her father,
who left years ago to find
work in the United States.
Most of the men in her vil-
lage have left to go north,
which makes the village an
easy target for a group of
drug-dealing banditos. After
watching the movie ‘The
Magnificent Seven,’ Nayeli
and three friends are in-
spired to travel to the United
States to recruit seven Mex-
ican men to defend and re-
populate their village. This
story has unforgettable
characters and is a timely
tale of an irresistible young
woman’s quest to define her-
self without borders.
“For younger readers,
Hood River Reads has select-
See READS, Page B6
See WORDS, Page B6
Word count
countdown:
Page contest nearing end
Michele Dearing, Col-
lection Development Spe-
cialist for the Hood River
County Library District,
updated the Million Page
Challenge board at the
Hood River Library last
week. And we’ve got sad
news, Hood River County
— we’re in last place.
The Hood River Li-
brary District was chal-
lenged by the Pendleton
Public Library and a
combined team of the
Harney and Lake County
libraries to a three-way
race to see which li-
brary’s patrons can
reach one million pages
first. The contest started
Feb. 1.
As of last Thursday,
Hood River County has
read 76,486 pages,
putting us in last.
Pendleton is in second
with 171,296 and Har-
ney/Lake in first with
484,223.
Books, audiobooks,
newspapers and maga-
zines all count in the
contest. The catch: They
must be read or check
out from the library, and
participants must be 16
years or older to qualify.
Assistant Library Di-
rector Rachel Fox said
patrons are encouraged
to fill out their Million
Page Challenge book-
marks (or write the num-
ber of pages read on any
sheet of paper) and regu-
larly turn them in for
tabulation to any county
library branch. The con-
test ends March 15.
Photo by Mike Glover
SMART TONGUE TWISTER Tournament competitors, from left, are: Sean Counihan, Noah Tauscher, Kelsey Stewart, Sierra Lavoie and
Morgan Graves; educators Rich Polkinghorn, Heather Laurance, Jennifer Graves, Dan Goldman, and T Dalbey. Emcee Kirby Neumann-
Rea is at center.
‘Gorge Lit’ seeks writers
The Gorge Literary Journal, a new
voice for writers in the Columbia
Gorge, is soliciting short original
works for publication. Partnering
with The Hood River News, selected
items will appear in a special newspa-
per section this summer. There is no
financial remuneration for accep-
tance. All submissions are anony-
mous (the online submission process
connects writers’ names to their
pieces after they are accepted).
The editors are looking for previ-
ously unpublished work in the follow-
ing categories: poetry, essay and flash
fiction, centered on living in the
Gorge. Funny or poignant, satirical
or lyrical, they want to know what the
essence of the Gorge is to you. What
delights you? Infuriates you? Inspires
you? Accessible, meaningful writing
is preferred.
The editors are not interested in po-
litical or religious manifestos or work
that promotes hate. Also not eligible
are longer fiction excerpts that can-
not stand alone as flash fiction (“flash
fiction” refers to characters and a
conflict that is introduced, explored
and resolved concisely, in this case
within 500 words). While there may
be a place and time for adult lan-
guage, this is not one of them, as the
pieces will run in a family newspaper.
Because Gorge Lit is entirely vol-
unteer driven, it does not have the re-
sources for extensive editing, but the
editors reserve the right to edit for
publication.
WANT TO SUBMIT?
Please consult gorgelit.org for
submission guidelines and in-
structions.
Submission deadline is April 22.