“Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’ gift is to make everything look easy, yet all of her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.” Penguin Random House

We’ll close out our Polar Bear Plunge with a discussion of one of Bear’s favorite short stories, “The Awakening.”

1963. Hattertown, Connecticut. Leo “Half” Napoli mourns his hat factory worker father while daydreaming of being the first man on the moon and partaking of “something of the infinite.” Meanwhile he and his fellow Back Shop Boys (their fathers all worked in the dangerous, mercury-fume-laden back shops of hat factories) seek to learn the identity of the mysterious Man in Blue who wanders the town collecting odd items in his rucksack. Elected to spy on him, instead Half enters an odd friendship during the course of which the man teaches Half to swim. Meanwhile Half discovers not only what “Jack Thomas” has been collecting in his rucksack, but the extraordinary circumstances that led to his fugitive existence-an odyssey extending from pre-WWII Bohemia to a German POW Camp and beyond. A Boy’s Guide to Outer Space is about the places on earth where the mundane and the miraculous meet and one boy’s re-discovery of his lost sense of wonder.

Free and open to the public!

We have a wonderful morning planned for children and young adults! You can find Georgia-themed children’s books and titles from young adult author, Chris Negron. Join us for a fun morning meeting the authors and sampling some delicious boiled peanuts from Satterfield’s Barbeque.

Free and open to the public!