Mid-Columbia Libraries to Participate in World’s Largest eBook Club

Mid-Columbia Libraries (MCL) invites the community to take part in Big Library Read, the world’s largest global eBook reading club through libraries and schools that connects millions of readers around the world with the same eBook at the same time.

From April 1 to April 15, MCL cardholders can borrow, read, and discuss Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung’s heartbreaking yet hopeful “Homes: A Refugee Story” eBook with no waitlists or holds by visiting midcolumbialibraries.org/ebooks or by downloading the one-touch reading app, Libby. Readers can join an online discussion about the book at discuss.biglibraryread.com. And, readers can use #BigLibraryRead on social media for a chance to win a Kobo Aura H2O from OverDrive.

“Homes: A Refugee Story” is a 2018 Governor General's Literary Award finalist for nonfiction and was chosen by a popular vote of readers and librarians worldwide. The book chronicles the struggles of the al Rabeeah family who left their home in Iraq for Syria in hope of a safer life just before the Syrian civil war broke out. Abu Bakr, one of eight children, was ten years old when the violence began on the streets around him: car bombings, attacks on his mosque and school, firebombs late at night. It tells of the strange juxtaposition of growing up as a typical teenager in a war zone.

The title will automatically expire at the end of the lending period, and there are no late fees. For more information, visit biglibraryread.com. To get a free digital library card, visit midcolumbialibraries.org/ebooks and follow the “Need a card?” prompt to get started.