Colleagues, following the resounding success of last year's A TALE FOR ONE
CITY, I would like to urge all of you to participate in this year's event.
The first step is selection of books.  The nominating committee has chosen
five adult books and five children's books (from numerous nominees in each
category) as candidates for this year's event.  Now we would like your help
in making the final selection.  Please choose one adult book and one
children's book from the list of finalists below.

Drop off your vote at any Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library
branch or mail it to "A Tale for One City," 1001 Broad Street, Chattanooga,
TN 37402.  You may also vote on-line by sending an email that lists your
two choices to

[log in to unmask]

All votes must be received by Monday, September 29.

If you have any questions, please email me.  Thanks for your support of
this valuable community project.

Verbie Prevost
Chair, A Tale for One City



BOOKS FOR ADULTS (select one)
_____Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom - Everyone has had someone enrich
his/her life in some way. Tuesdays with Morrie is a tribute to such a
person, but it goes beyond the usual homage. Mitch Albom attempts to share
some of Morrie Schwartz's inspiration with his readers. When they reunite
in the last months of Morrie's life, Albom not only talks about his
mentor's life but also the lessons taught and learned.

_____A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by
Bill Bryson - The author of the book The Lost Continent comes back to the
United States with his attempt to rediscover America by hiking the
Appalachian Trail. Romantic as the adventure sounds, Bryson also tells it
like it is. Yes, there are beautiful scenes and sparkling rivers, but there
are also snakes and rain showers that reflect more of a dilemma than an
adventure. This is a book about sweeping beauty and harsh reality that
surprisingly illustrates that America is worth any obstacle.  

_____Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton - Mattie Rigsbee is an
independent and strong-minded senior citizen whose life is disrupted when
she meets young delinquent Wesley Bendfield and his stray dog. Mattie soon
learns that Christian charity comes with a price but could just be worth it.

_____A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines - Set in a small Cajun
community in the late 1940s, A Lesson Before Dying is the story of one man
condemned to die for a crime he did not commit and a young man who visits
him in his cell. The two men forge a bond as they both come to understand
the simple heroism of resisting--and defying--the expected. 

_____Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - A fictionalized story of a
young girl and her life as a Geisha in pre-war Japan. Sold into slavery at
nine years old, she is taken to a geisha house because her beauty is so
renowned. The reader is taken into the streets of the geisha district of
Kyoto and witnesses Nitta Sayuri's transformation from a village peasant to
one of the most celebrated beauties in the geisha world. 

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN (select one)
_____Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo - Rob Horton lives with his father in
the Kentucky Star Motel in a small town in Florida.  Rob has been a sad and
lonely boy since the death of his mother.  But things begin to change after
Rob meets Sistine, a girl who forces Rob to face his problems and open his
heart.  Rob finds a tiger caged in the woods behind the motel.  An act of
courage enables Rob to finally break free from his own mental cage. 

_____From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L.
Konigsburg - Claudia and her brother Jamie run away from home to teach
their parents a lesson.  They move into the Metropolitan Museum of Art
where they hide away or leave when the museum is open. When the children
become fascinated by the arrival of a sculpture of an angel, the two set
out to verify that Michelangelo created it. Their investigation leads them
to the mansion of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

_____Van Gogh Café by Cynthia Rylant - Seven stories tell about the strange
happenings in a Kansas café.  Marc and his ten-year old daughter, Clara,
run the Van Gogh Café.  The café used to be a movie theater and is still
filled with the magic found only in old movies. Clara believes in this
magic, making each day full of surprises and mysteries. 

_____Crash by Jerry Spinelli - Crash Coogan has been bullying Penn Ward
since the beginning of elementary school.  Now both boys are in the seventh
grade.  Penn is a perky cheerleader and Crash is the star of the football
team. Crash is also still a bully.  Things change after Crash's grandfather
suffers from a stroke.  Crash realizes that it is time to grow up.

_____ If I Were In Charge of the World and Other Worries: Poems for
Children and Their Parents  by Judith Viorst This book of 41 poems is for
everyone who has ever had trouble apologizing, talked too much, or burped.
These poems are for everyone who could use a little help in turning worries
into laughter.



Verbie Lovorn Prevost
Katharine Pryor Professor of English
Director of English Graduate Studies
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave
Chattanooga, TN  37403
Phone: 423-425-4627
Fax: 423-425-2282
email: [log in to unmask]