About "One Book, Everybody Reads" 

"One Book, Everybody Reads" is the library's annual community-wide reading and book discussion program, which takes place for approximately 6 weeks each spring. The library selects one book and then encourages the community to read the selection and participate in a series of related events. The culmination of the program takes place when the author visits Wilmette to talk about his/her book.  In order to facilitate the experience, the library offers numerous copies of the book in various formats for patron use. 

The "One Book, Everybody Reads" program began in 2006. The 2013 selection is author Jess Walter's latest novel, Beautiful Ruins.

Previous selected titles were:

2012: State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett

2011: Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann

2010: Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

2009: The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Winchester

2008: Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan

2007: A Hope in the Unseen, by Ron Suskind

2006: Before You Know Kindness, by Chris Bohjalian

The concept of a "One Book" program was launched in 1998 when Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book in the Seattle Public Library, initiated "If All Seattle Read the Same Book." The Library of Congress offers lists of One Book Projects in the United States as well as information about the history of community reads programs on its website.

Funding for "One Book, Everybody Reads" is made possible by Friends of the Wilmette Public Library.