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If All Arkansas Read the Same Book

Created in 2001, If All Arkansas Read the Same Book is an annual, statewide reading program designed to encourage the enjoyment of reading and to promote book discussion in libraries of all types across Arkansas. Events for the project begin during the fall of each year and typically culminate in an author tour.

2016 If All Arkansas Read the Same Book Selection

The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

The Pecan Man is a work of Southern fiction.  In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless, Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless, elderly black man to mow her lawn.  The neighborhood children call him the Pee-can Man; their mother mothers call them inside whenever he appears.  When the local police chief's son is found stabbed to death, the man Ora Lee knows as Eddie is arrested and charged with murder.  Twenty-five years later, Ora Lee sets out to tell the truth about the Pecan Man.  In narrating her story, Ora Lee discovers more truth about herself than she could ever have imagined.  This novel has been described as To Kill a Mockingbird meets The Help.

Cassie Dandridge Selleck is a native of Leesburg, Florida, the small central Florida town fictionalized as Mayville in The Pecan Man.  She hold a BFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont and has recently published her second novel, What Matters in Mayhew.  Cassie makes her home on the Suwannee River in rural North Florida  with her husband of twenty-four years and their little chihuahua, Sugar.    

Author Tour - June 11-16, 2017

Cassie discussed her book at the following locations: Garland County Library in Hot Springs, St. Paul Public Library, Well-Seasoned Book Club of Morrilton, Jackson County Library in Newport; Greene County Library in Paragould, Cross County Library in Wynne, Goff Public Library in Beebe, Alma Public Library, Siloam Springs Public Library and the Boone County Library in Harrison.

Hear Ann Nicholson interview Cassie for Arts Scene that aired June 11 on KUAR 89.1 and KLRE 90.5.

See photos from the book tour on the State Library's Flickr page - https://flic.kr/s/aHsm3ptPj6

Previously Featured Selections:

Arkansas State Library
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Little Rock, AR 72201
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