Discuss the book before our author event on October 21.
Join us as we discuss this year's Meet the Author title, A Most Beautiful Thing by Arshay Cooper.
In this deeply personal book, the author describes his life growing up in the 1990’s on Chicago’s West Side. In a neighborhood mostly known through stereotypes and bleak statistics, he lived in a one-bedroom apartment with his three siblings and single mother, a recovering drug addict. As a teenager, Mr. Cooper attended Manley High School, where less than 50 percent of the senior class graduated and only 10 percent matriculated to college. As he witnessed murders and dead bodies on the streets and saw a world filled with drug dealers and gang rivalry, he felt “like God existed everywhere but here.” Mr. Cooper’s life was forever altered, however, when a Chicago-based coach began recruiting Manley students for a new rowing team. With great skepticism, Mr. Cooper and a handful of classmates, some from rival gangs, joined the team. Together, they rewrote their futures and transformed the sport by becoming the first all-Black high school crew team in the country.
Copies of the book are available at the library and ebook versions available for checkout through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app on your device.
Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.
Please email community@wilmettelibrary.info with any questions about how to access the program via Zoom.
From the south: Go north on Green Bay Road. Turn left on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From the north: Go south on Green Bay Road. Turn right on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From I-94 (Edens Expressway):from the South - exit at Lake Ave. East. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave. • from the North - exit at Rt. 41/Skokie Blvd. Turn left (east) on Lake Ave. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave.
Mass transit options include CTA, Metra, and Pace.
