Thank you to everyone who participated in making our 3rd annual county reading program successful! We had almost 200 registrants. Susquehanna County Reads was supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities' We the People initiative on American history. Click Read More for a list of people and organizations who played a special role. Thank you all!

Kristin Sanner, Associate Professor of English at Mansfield University and a resident of Dimock, wrote a wonderful essay for this project about the relevance of the novel to our present-day lives in Susquehanna County. Thank you, Dr. Sanner! Click "Read More" to view the essay.

Thanks to WPEL and our volunteer readers, the first twelve chapters of My Àntonia were broadcast on their AM channel (800 AM) from October 5th to October 9th. You can listen to the segments below. Press the round PLAY button under each file. Please be patient as the files are large and take time to load before they play. The files will also be available for download as MP3s at some point in the future.

Andrew Molinaro, artisan of the anvil

As part of Susquehanna County Reads My Àntonia, photographer Sally Wiener Grotta's exhibit "Pennsylvania Hands" was on display in the main room of the Susquehanna County Library in Montrose during October 2009. "Pennsylvania Hands" is a visual celebration of those individuals who keep alive the traditional crafts that built our country's dynamically diverse culture and established the underpinnings of our present-day society. In this ongoing project, Sally creates narrative portraits of people who use their hands in traditional ways, making functional objects that are, today, typically done by machines. Ten large giclee prints on canvas of artisans at work were prominently displayed in the main room of the library. They can be seen now by visiting Sally's website for the project, www.amhands.com.

My Àntonia takes place in rural Nebraska at the end of the 19th century. Jim Burden, going to live with his grandparents in Black Hawk, meets and narrates the story of Àntonia Shimerdas, an immigrant from Bohemia. This modernist novel depicts a strong sense of place and nostalgia. Themes include the emotional appeal of the past, the immigrant experience, and pioneer values.

Because My Àntonia is in the public domain, you can read it online:

• Scholarly edition at the Willa Cather Archive
• Illustrated version at Project Gutenberg
• Text-only version at Project Gutenberg

You can listen to or download an audiobook version at the Librivox page.

Many resources are available at the Big Read page for the novel.

My Àntonia chosen for 2009 Susquehanna County Reads

2009 will be the third year for our community reading program, Susquehanna County Reads. We are once again partnering with the Susquehanna County Literacy Program. The program will be held in the Fall--dates will be announced by summer. One hundred thirty-two people voted, and the overwhelming choice was Willa Cather's 1918 novel.