Skip to main content
close
Font size options
Increase or decrease the font size for this website by clicking on the 'A's.
Contrast options
Choose a color combination to give the most comfortable contrast.
Image for event: Thursday Afternoon Book Group

Thursday Afternoon Book Group

2025-01-16 12:00:00 2025-01-16 13:00:00 America/Chicago Thursday Afternoon Book Group Join us for a discussion of "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James Mcbride. Mount Prospect Public Library - Meeting Room B room 152

Thursday, January 16
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-01-16 12:00:00 2025-01-16 13:00:00 America/Chicago Thursday Afternoon Book Group Join us for a discussion of "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James Mcbride. Mount Prospect Public Library - Meeting Room B room 152

Mount Prospect Public Library

Meeting Room B room 152

Join us for a discussion of "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James Mcbride.

Book Summary: In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new housing development, the last thing they expected to uncover was a human skeleton. Who the skeleton was and how it got buried there were just two of the long-held secrets that had been kept for decades by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side, sharing ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which served the neighborhood's quirky collection of blacks and European immigrants, helped by her husband, Moshe, a Romanian-born theater owner who integrated the town's first dance hall. When the state came looking for a deaf black child, claiming that the boy needed to be institutionalized, Chicken Hill's residents — roused by Chona's kindess and the courage of a local black worker named Nate Timblin — banded together to keep the boy safe.

As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear how much the people of Chicken Hill have to struggle to survive at the margins of white Christian America and how damaging bigotry, hypocrisy, and deceit can be to a community. When the truth is revealed about the skeleton, the boy, and the part the town’s establishment played in both, McBride shows that it is love and community — heaven and earth — that ultimately sustain us.

We recommend you place a hold on the select title a month prior to the meeting for ample reading time. If you'd like to place a hold over the phone, please call the Fiction/AV/Teen desk at 847-590-4070.

AGE GROUP: | Adult |

EVENT TYPE: | Discussions | Books & Authors |

TAGS: | |

Mount Prospect Public Library

info@mppl.org
Phone: (847) 253-5675

Hours
Mon, Dec 23 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Tue, Dec 24 Closed
Wed, Dec 25 Closed
Thu, Dec 26 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Fri, Dec 27 9:00AM to 7:00PM
Sat, Dec 28 9:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, Dec 29 11:00AM to 5:00PM

About the Location

The Main Library is located in downtown Mount Prospect, next to Village Hall. The building houses an extensive collection of materials, spaces for quiet and collaborative work, several program rooms, public computers, a dedicated teen space, and engaging play area for children.

 For a comprehensive list of all services available at the Main Library, please visit the library website.

Upcoming Events

Tue, Dec 24, All day
All Library Locations