Weber Reads: Fire

2017-2018 BOOK SELECTION

Welcome to Weber Reads 2017-18! Weber Reads is a coalition of people from the Weber County Library, the Wasatch Range Writing Project, Weber and Ogden School Systems, and Weber State University. Following the initiative of One Community One Book from the Library of Congress, we in Weber Reads pick a topic, an author or a book every year and encourage people to learn, read and discuss the ideas we encounter.

This year, we will explore the topic of Fire, a particularly complex and compelling subject. Every summer, we are reminded of how close to our lives fire can come, of how fragile our world seems when the night sky reddens and the wind thickens with soot. In those moments fire threatens. Yet we also know that fire is a creator as well as a destroyer, that seeds blossom in its heat, animals find new forage and the soil is renewed. We know that for millennia, people have gathered around fire to warm themselves, to eat, to talk, to tell stories. In the 20th and 21st centuries, we have begun to realize that our connection with fire is a complex one. What can threaten can also benefit; what can destroy can also create.

We invite you to join us in our exploration of fire. To help facilitate involvement of young people in our discussions, every school in the County will receive the Weber Reads teaching materials. In this box, you will find lesson plans written by teachers in the Wasatch Range Writing Project, along with a list of the lessons and a bibliography. You will also find appropriate texts for children and teens, purchased in part by Friends of the Weber County Library, for each school library. We will read science books, myths and legends, true stories of disastrous fires and those who fight them, novels, poetry and short stories. Students at all levels can consider the many aspects of fire and learn about fire safety.