‘The Great American Read’—What Is it?

[Laura Cavers is the the Readers Advisory at New Canaan Library.]

Welcome back from summer travels! So have you seen PBS’s “The Great American Read?” Have you watched it? Have you cast your vote? I haven’t, and I don’t blame you if you have not, because there are so many books to love. 

So what exactly is “The Great American Read?”

New Canaan Library Book Review: ‘Only Child’ by Rhiannon Navin

[Editor’s Note: This is the first in a new monthly feature on NewCanaanite.com, a book review from Laura Cavers, the Readers Advisory at New Canaan Library, chosen specifically for our local readers. In her position, Cavers hears regularly from library patrons about what they like to read and makes recommendations based on individual tastes.]

Only Child, by Rhiannon Navin, is an astonishing gripping novel about a family and a community coping with the aftermath of a shooting at the town’s elementary school. I didn’t want to read this story – so much of this kind of tragedy is in the news, and Sandy Hook, not a far drive from New Canaan, is still very raw. However, I couldn’t put the book down. The young narrator is six-year-old Zach Taylor and his voice is calm, curious and even hopeful as he, his family and community work through grief and confusion.