Kansas City Metropolitan Library & Information Network

15624 E. US Highway
24

Independence, MO  64050

 

For information contact:

Susan Burton, (816) 521-7267 or

Marsha Bennett (913) 261-2319

Web site:  http://www.kcmlin.org/UnitedWeRead/2004/introduction.htm

 

NEWS:  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, August 16, 2004

 

Third year for popular community-wide reading program

KANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY’S

Next United We Read begins today

 

          In January, a committee of local librarians, educators, readers, book discussion group members, and book store representatives met to discuss and choose – from a list of ten book titles – one book to encourage metro-area residents to read and discuss this fall.  The book title for the 2004 United We Read project is the Nebula Award-winning novel The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

            Author Elizabeth Moon depicts a time in the not-to-distant future when genetic conditions like autism can be eliminated before a child is born.  The novel tells the story of the last generation of high-functioning autists who have found themselves pressured by their employer, a pharmaceutical company, to participate in a risky surgical experiment that may make them “normal.â€