2019 Hood River Reads Selection
Temperance Creek by Pamela Royes
The Friends of the Library will host events throughout March and April for the 2019 Hood River Reads program culminating in a writing workshop on Saturday April 13 at 10:00 a.m. and a visit from the author on Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m.
Hood River County Reads is a county-wide project sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Their goal is to encourage readers of all ages to read and discuss books. They choose books and authors that reflect the diversity of their community and that will be shared widely with the county’s individuals and families.
In the austere beauty and natural reality of Hells Canyon of Eastern Oregon, the young adult Pam, unable to identify with her parents’ world and looking for deeper pathways, has a chance encounter with returning Vietnam soldier Skip Royes. Looking for a bridge from survival back to connection, Skip introduces Pam to the vanishing culture of the wandering shepherd and together they embark on a four-year sojourn into the wilderness. From the back of a horse, Pam leads the reader from overlook to water crossing, down trails two thousand years old, and from these vantages, we fall in love with the place and feel the edges of our own experiences. The reader feels her love for her man and the price extracted for that love. Written with deep lyricism, Temperance Creek is a work of haunting beauty, fresh and irreverent and rooted in the grit and pleasure of daily life. This is Pam’s story, but the courage and truth in the telling is part of our human experience. Her memoir is a kind of homecoming and a coming of age story of a young woman.
Pamela Royes is a North Dakota native and a “daughter of the plains.” She was raised Norwegian, Methodist, and Republican. Her family was stoic and didn’t talk about the past. At seventeen in the 1970s, Pam stuck out her thumb and headed west, eventually settling in the rugged Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon. She has worked as a waitress, folksinger, tree-planter, wrangler, sheepherder, and Special Education teacher. At the age of fifty, Pam joined her husband Skip in fighting fires and started writing a memoir about her life. She currently lives on a ranch with Skip in Northeastern Oregon where they raise cattle and hay along with chickens, horses, mules, honey bees, cats, and dogs. They have two children and three grandchildren. Pam is currently working on a book of fiction for young adults. Temperance Creek is her first book.
PROGRAM AND EVENTS
- Hood River Library Kick-Off, Saturday, March 2 2-3:30 p.m.
Hood River Library Reading Room
Annual Hood River Reads kickoff which will include book distribution, art, a performance by the Phoenix theater and refreshments. This year’s selection is Temperance Creek by Pamela Royes.
- Cascade Locks Library and Parkdale Library Kick-Off, Tuesday, March 5, 5-7 pm
Book Distribution
- Heaven on Earth: Hells Canyon History, Saturday, March 16, 2 pm.
Hood River Library Reading Room
A presentation about Hells Canyon featuring Bill Weiler, Pat Miller and Lynda Dallman. Hells Canyon is the setting for the 2018 Hood River Reads selection: Temperance Creek.
- For Youth: Fun with Woolanimals! Saturday, March 30, 10:30 -12:00 p.m.
Hood River Library Makerspace
A Makerspace activity for the whole family. Patrons can drop-in to create Shaun the Sheep and other wool animals.
- Hood River Library Book Club: Temperance Creek, Thursday, April 4, 6:30 p.m.
Hood River Library Meeting Room
- Sheep, Sheepdogs, and Wool Demonstrations/Activities Saturday, April 6, 9:30 a.m.
Hood River Saddle Club
With Cynthia Mills and Gorge Spinners and Weavers
- Writing Workshop with author Pamela Royes April 13 – Saturday 10:00 am-12:30 pm
Hood River Library Meeting Room
Pre-registration is required and will begin at the kickoff on March 4.
- Public presentation by author Pamela Royes Saturday, April 14, 2 p.m.
Hood River Library Reading Room
Hood River County Reads 2006-2019
Hood River County Reads is a county-wide project sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Our goal is to encourage readers of all ages to read and discuss books. We choose books and authors that reflect the diversity of our community and that will be shared widely with our county’s individuals and families. We have been very fortunate that the authors (or, in one case, the author’s son) have been able to come to Hood River to interact with members of the community and to work with students at the schools.
Our program began in 2006 with Hood River native Virginia Euwer Wolff discussing her novel Bat 6 about the Japanese experience after World War II. We encourage you to read and discuss all of the Hood River Reads’ books:
2007: Gonzales and Daughter Trucking Company by Maria Amparo Escandon and Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.
2008: River Song by Craig Lesley.
2009: Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler.
2010: The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss.
2012: The Circuit/Cajas de carton by Francisco Jimenez.
2013: Ricochet River by Robin Cody.
2014: Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems by William Stafford.
2015: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea and Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan.
2016: Martin Marten by Brian Doyle.
2017: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger and Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine.
2018: Moreno. Prieto. Brown by Alejandro Jimenez and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson