After launching a new citywide reading program in Canby last week — designed to help folks stay connected and replace some of the adult educational programming wrecked by the coronavirus pandemic — the library and volunteers are unveiling a similar initiative this week aimed at teens.
Like the rest of the library’s planned in-person activities, teen programming — which had previously been on a major upswing — has been decimated much of this year thanks to Covid-19.
Coupled with distance learning and the loss of most sports and other extracurricular activities, teens in Canby have lost many of their traditional means of connecting and interacting with one another.
Enter the communitywide Teen Read, sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of the Canby Public Library. Like the adult version, the program provides free copies of the same book — Long Way Down by Black author Jason Reynolds — to participants and then provides opportunities for them to interact.
In this case, the library will be facilitating a Zoom discussion to conclude the Teen Read on Sept. 24.
Written in free verse and the winner of numerous children’s book awards, Long Way Down tracks the journey of 15-year-old Will down a single elevator ride after he has resolved to get revenge for the murder of his older brother two days prior.
Recommended for grades eight and up, the novel explores the cycle of inner-city violence in which kids like Will and his brother, Shawn, have been brought up.
Free copies are available at the Canby Public Library and may be picked up during curbside delivery hours. Call 503-266-0650 or email soltzm@canbyoregon.gov to reserve your copy.
