"You cannot create a place like this; it just sort of happens."

- Victor Herman, Horizon Books' founder, Celebrating the Third Place

SIGN UP TO BE A BOOK GIVER FOR WORLD BOOK NIGHT 2012!

(click here for more information)

World Book Night is an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. To be held in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Ireland on April 23, 2012, it will see tens of thousands of people go out into their communities to spread the joy and love of reading by giving out free World Book Night paperbacks.

Sign up by FEBRUARY 6 to be a book giver in your community!

CHECK OUT UP FRONT FRIDAYS!

Filmed every Friday morning in the front window of Horizon Books, and broadcast on UpNorthMedia's television and online stations, Up Front Fridays will bring you the latest in Traverse City happenings, interviews with fascinating personalities, and a variety of news on local and national events.

Click on the graphic to the left to check out this week's program!

February 11th, Saturday, 4 to 6 pm

PANEL DISCUSSION of Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

February is Black History Month, and Horizon Books will host a panel discussion of Arc of Justice, a Great Michigan Reads book. Amongst the panel members will be Deab Robb, Grant Parsons, and John Mitchell. The moderator of the panel will be Juliette Schultz

Great Michigan Read is a book club for the entire state. With a statewide focus on a single book - Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle - it encourages Michigandians to learn more about our state, our society and our history. For more information about the program and how to participate, go to:  http://michiganhumanities.org/programs/tgmr/

Click on the book cover to the right to purchase your copy today!

The 27^th Anniversary LAND Conference will be held from 15-17 February 2012 at Northwestern Michigan College and Park Place Hotel in Traverse City, Michigan. The theme for the conference is "Enhancing Student Engagement." Click on the image above to go to the LAND website for information on registration and a schedule of events.

Also, this year's winners include Horizon Books' own Sean Case, who claimed 1st Place in the statewide essay competition, and will present at the conference!

FEBRUARY 18th, Saturday, 5:30-8:30 pm

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY with Jack Driscoll of The World of a Few Minutes Ago, to be held at the Shine Cafe, located in the River Level of Horizon Books!

Complimentary wine and cheese will be served. Open to the public. Come and hear Jack Driscoll read from his latest book!

EDITOR'S CORNER...

February is designated as Black History Month and so we've scheduled a panel discussion about Arc of Justice, a National Book Award winner, by Kevin Boyle. This book was selected by the Michigan Humanities Council to be the Great Michigan Read for 2011/2012 to encourage Michiganders to learn more about our state, our society and our history and to create a dialogue with shared experience and knowledge. As we honor Black History Month we can discuss the tolerance of our community today as well as our past. Pick up Glimpses of Grand Traverse Past by Richard Fidler to see a chapter about the KKK in Traverse City. We had burning crosses and bombs in 1924, just as Detroit had at the time of Dr. Sweet's historical event, the subject of Arc of Justice.

Two new books for middle school readers are excellent novels about past historical events appropriate for February, too. Crow by Barbara Wright depicts a race riot through the eyes of eleven-year-old Moses as his thriving African American community - enfranchised and emancipated - suddenly and violently loses its freedom in turn-of-the-century North Carolina. That's where a group of local politicians stages the only successful coup d'etat in U.S. history. The other recommendation is The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, about a mixed race friendship of two young girls in 1958, one year after the famous "Little Rock Nine" integrated the high school there. Maintaining their friendship puts them in danger during this turbulent time, yet they remain committed to each other as they come to grips with their role in the future of Little Rock.