History

The One Book One Town initiative was inspired by a program created by librarian and author Nancy Pearl of the Seattle Public Library’s Washington Center for the Book. She wondered what would happen if everyone in the city read the same book at the same time. Since then, this simple idea has spread across the nation and even the world.

Fairfield began its own community reading initiative, called One Book One Town, in 2006. Spearheaded by Reference Librarian Susan Zuckerman, a group of librarians, teachers and community volunteers gathered to select a book and create a slate of unique and interesting programs for the town. This process goes on annually, resulting in an amazing array of books that have been featured as Fairfield’s One Book in March of each year.

Find out more about our previous One Book One Town selections:

2008: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Reling

2009: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

2010: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

2011: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

2012: The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf

2013: Wonder by R. J. Palacio

2014: A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

2015: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

2016: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

2017: Books for Living by Will Schwalbe & A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers

(no OBOT in 2018)

2019: Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

      2020: Running With Sherman by Christopher McDougall

      2021: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

      2022: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune