Author Night at the East Longmeadow Public Library

The East Longmeadow Public Library has invited four local authors of young adult fiction to participate in a book discussion and book signing. This event will take place on Wednesday, May 28th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. in the library’s Community Room. The four authors are M.P. Barker - A Difficult Boy, Michelle Kwasney - Baby Blue, Judith Jaeger - The Secret Thief and D. Dina Friedman - Escaping into the Night. These authors reside in central and western Massachusetts and all have recently been published. Please join us for a fun and informative evening and get your books signed! Brief summaries of their books are given below.

If you are a fan of historical fiction A Difficult Boy written by M.P. Barker and Dina Friedman’s Escaping into the Night will interest you. A Difficult Boy is about two young boys growing up in Farmington, Massachusetts in the year 1839. Ethan and Daniel are indentured servants who suffer cruelty and hardship as they struggle to survive working for the wealthy Lyman family. The bond that forms between the two boys gives them strength as they struggle to right a terrible wrong.

Escaping into the Night is the story of Halina Rudowski who escapes from the Polish ghetto just as it is being evacuated by the Germans during World War II. Her struggle to survive tells the story of the underground forest encampments that saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.

If “real life” fiction is more to your liking then you will definitely want to check out Baby Blue by Michelle Kwasney. Blue’s life is falling apart. Her father drowned in the river, her new step father is violent and abusive towards her mother and her beloved older sister, Star, has run away. Blue is determined to put her family back together by finding her sister and getting help for her mother before it is too late. Michelle Kwasney’s latest book, Itch, was just released last month.

In Secret Thief by Judith Jaeger, Connie Grey strives to be the perfect student, athlete and daughter to a psychologically troubled mother. By the time she graduates from college she has a chronic ulcer and has become a kleptomaniac or “secret thief”. While spending the summer with her grandmother, Connie uncovers family secrets that help her to face the truth about her mother and her past.

We are hoping for a great turnout to support our local authors. Please call the Information Desk at (413) 525-5400, x158 to register. This program is free and open to adults and teens. The East Longmeadow Library is handicapped accessible.