A Strong West Wind: A Memoir by Gail Caldwell is the third book in the 2016 Spring Read.
“In this exquisitely rendered memoir set on the high plains of Texas, Pulitzer Prize winner Gail Caldwell transforms into art what it is like to come of age in a particular time and place. A Strong West Wind begins in the 1950s in the wilds of the Texas Panhandle–a place of both boredom and beauty, its flat horizons broken only by oil derricks, grain elevators, and church steeples. Its story belongs to a girl who grew up surrounded by dust storms and cattle ranches and summer lightning, who took refuge from the vastness of the land and the ever-present wind by retreating into books. A memoir of culture and history–of fathers and daughters, of two world wars, the passionate rebellions of the sixties -- the book is also about the mythology of place and evolution of a sensibility: about how literature can shape and even anticipate a life” (From Amazon)
A Book Club Discussion Guide for A Strong West Wind is available to help guide anyone leading a book club. This guide includes welcomes from the discussion and forum leaders, various notes, discussion questions, and more!
If you're a teacher wanting to teach A Strong West Wind in your classroom, a Guide for Teachers has been created. This was compiled by Lynne Hewes and Rebecca Koehn. It includes author notes, reading check questions, book discussion questions, and other assignments.
If you haven't, yet ?join the Radio Readers Book Clubby filling out this short form. Then we invite you to connect with other readers by participating in the online discussion forum.