More One Book events coming up

Talk about it

Hearing that Moon over Manifest has become a favorite book for some people in Rosemount makes Jamie Jurgensen smile. Halfway through One Book, One Rosemount, Jurgensen said residents are responding well to the month long reading campaign.

“Things are going great. 70 percent of the books are checked out and we’ve given out nearly all our free copies,” said Jurgensen.

Moon Over Manifest was written by Clare Vanderpoole. The Newberry award-winning novel follows Abilene Tucker after her father puts her on a train and sends her to live with an old friend for a summer. Tucker aims to find out more about the boy her father once was and unravel the secrets of the town of Manifest.

Jurgenson said people off all ages in the community have expressed delight in the book and that whole families have read it.

“That’s what we’re going for,” said Jurgensen.

One Book One Rosemount started at the beginning of September. So far, Jurgensen said, they’ve had good attendance at the various events and she’s looking forward to the events to come.

“We just had the Orphan Train presentation and that was well attended and the history book club had double its regular attendance,” said Jurgensen.

In the weeks to come, Jurgensen anticipates several events will draw large crowds. On Saturday John Loch will present I Read it in the Paper. Attendees of the event will work with Loch to research the life of a Rosemount resident who lived from 1880 to 1924. Using clips from the newspaper the group will reconstruct this person’s life. At the conclusion of the event a direct descendent of the person will fill in the blanks. The event will go from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sept. 22 in the library meeting room. It’s open to people 12 and older.

Loch will wear his historian hat again on Sept. 27 when he presents Blind Pigs, Speakeasies and Moonshine. Loch said he will talk about the history of moonshining in the Rosemount area during prohibition. Loch said Rosemount had an active moonshining industry, as did many of the communities in Dakota County. Hampton, he added, was a hub of moonshining activity. The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the meeting room. Arrive early to get a seat.

During the last One Book, One Rosemount event Loch gave a well-attended presentation on hobos. He hopes people will respond equally as well to this presentation. At the very least, Jurgensen is excited about it.

“I am totally looking forward to John’s presentation,” said Jurgensen.

For the younger audiences there will be an old fashioned storytime at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 in the library meeting room. And the Twin City Model Railroad Museum will present from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 26 in the meeting room.

One Book One Rosemount will wrap up with a visit from Vanderpoole at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Steeple Center.

Visit the Robert Trail Library to check out a copy of the book or for more information about any of the events.

Tags: news, rosemount, community