2016 Title:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
FEBRUARY
- 2/22: OCOB Youth & Adult Poetry Contest begins
- 2/22: Celebrity Reader Week at local schools
- 2/26: Artist, Bryan Collier visit to Schenectady City School’s MLK Elementary School
- 2/27: GROW A READER book donation program runs through 4/20
- 2/29: Friends’ Book Sandwiched in book review w/ Eileen Abrahams @ CENTRAL @ NOON
MARCH
- 3/2: SELMA movie @ CENTRAL @ NOON
- 3/7: The History of Me: A Three-Part Memoir Workshop (3/7, 3/14, 3/21) @ 6PM
- 3/19: 4 LITTLE GIRLS movie @ BORNT @ 2PM
- 3/26: OCOB Youth & Adult Poetry Contest ends
APRIL
- 4/2: Bornt Kids Dreaming Crafternoon @ BORNT @ 2PM
- 4/2: Book Discussion with Eileen Abrahams @ BORNT @ 2PM
- 4/4: Jacqueline Woodson Author Event @ GE Theater at Proctors @ 7PM
- 4/9: SELMA movie @ BORNT @ 2PM
- 4/10: Poetry Gala @ CENTRAL @ 2PM
For details, such as TIME and LOCATION, please click HERE to be taken to our Events Calendar.
2014 Winning Title:
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
- "Meet the Author: Kristin Kimball"
- "Small Farm Rising" film and discussion presented by retired teacher Mary Anne Mangano
- "Outstanding in the Arcade" Hosted by Proctors and Schenectady Greenmarket
- "Meet Ellen Stimson, author of Mud Season"
- "The Hero's Journey" writers' workshop facilitated by Susannah Risley
- Dinner and book discussions at Cella Bistro
- "Farming, Cooking and Eating Locally" panel discussion hosted by Schenectady Greenmarket with panelists Christina Davis, Cheryl Nechamen, and Chris Chandler
2013 Winning Title:
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- "When Your Pet Dies: Grieving the Loss of Companion Animals" with Haven Bereavement Support Center
- "All About Pets" presented by the Animal Protective Foundation
- "Dogs & People: the Heart Connection" with Susan Hamlin
- "Meet the Author: Garth Stein"
- Mazda Miata race car, owned by Tom Campbell, display
- Book discussions of The Art of Racing in the Rain and Racing in the Rain (the children's companion novel)
2011 Winning Title:
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
- OCOB Kick-off: Book Review by Melinda Lawson, PhD., Lecturer and Director of the Public History Program at Union College
- "An Evening of Readings: Civil War Voices": readings of Civil War journals, diaries, letters, and poems by local notables
- 2011 Art Contest: "America Through My Eyes"
- "Journey to the Past: Writing Historical Fiction" facilitated by Susannah Risley and Katherine Chansky
- "Women in the Civil War" presented by Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, Professor, SUNY Albany
- "Lunch with Robin Oliveira" and "Meet the Author: Robin Oliveira"
- "Living History Day" at Mabee Farms
2010 Winning Title:
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
- OCOB Kick-off: Book Review by Wonja Brucker, Assistant Director SCPL
- Reading of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet on WMHT-RISE
- Service project: Literacy Survival Kits for adult ESL students at Washington Irving Education Center
- "Win Lunch with Jamie Ford"
- "Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet: The History of a Love Story", author program at SCCC
- Facilitated book discussions at Mari's Japanese Restaurant
- Art & Poetry Contest: "Create an Illustrated Haiku"
2009 Winning Title:
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
- "Tell Us What It Was Like: Seniors recall the fabric of life during the Great Depression"
- "Cooking in Lean Times" Cooking Show
- "Challenges of Coping with the 'Brave New World'" with Dr. Rudy Nydegger
- "Riding the Rails: the Great Depression as the Context for Water for Elephants" with Dr. Andrew Morris, Ph.D.
- "I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt" with Maryanne Malecki
- "Family Fun Circus Day" with Mr. Beau the Clown & Circus Red with
Rich Kuperberg of Komotion
- "Everything's Coming up Rosie" book discussion with Gordon Turner, Susannah Risley, and Dr. Noha Abou-Madi, DVM, Msc.
2008 Winning Title:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Kabul Transit discussion with David B. Edwards
- Kabul in Winter program with author, Ann Jones
- Service project: working with the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation
- Book and film discussion with Jack Rightmyer and Casey Seiler
- Afghan Culture Fest with food; music by Hossin Noorzai; dancing by Sarah Khaliqi and friends; and cultural demos including afghan kite fighting by Alireza Jawanshir
2007 Winning Title:
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- “Brave New World: the Bioethical Issues Raised in My Sister’s Keeper” led by Robert Baker with a book review by Sue Lehrman
- "An Afternoon with Jodi Picoult”
- Service project: Have a Heart Survival Kits for Albany Medical Center Pediatric Oncology Unit
- Community Book Discussion
2006 Winning Title:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Pass the Book
- Get Caught Reading
- Service project: collecting goods for Bethesda House
- “Bela Lugosi, Rosa Parks, and Harper Lee” led by Claudia Durst Johnson, Ph.D
- Film discussion led by Dan DiNicola