The Jeudevine Library book for July is This Tender Land by William Krueger. Imagine 1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O'Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent's wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en-thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole. A perfect read for the summer of 2021.

Copies of the book will be available for check-out on July 9.

Our July Book Discussion will be held in the Memorial Room in the Hardwick Town Office Building (the Memorial Building). For more information, call the library at 472-5948 or email: jeudevinelibrary@hardwickvt.org