The annual “All Iowa Reads” celebration is coming soon, though this year it will be one state bigger.

Perry Public Library Director Mary Murphy says the book chosen for this year’s event is an agricultural-themed book written by Ted Genoways, and it has deep ties with both Iowa and its western neighbor. “The book picked this year is called ‘This Blessed Earth.’ It follows a farm family, a year in the life of the farm family, the growing season. And it’s kind of cool because Iowa and Nebraska are going together and having their annual conference in Omaha this year, and the author of this book will be at that conference. And so not only it’s an ‘All Iowa Reads,’ it’s an ‘All Nebraska Reads,’ too.”

The day of the event for the two states will be Thursday, April 25th, with the Perry contingent meeting at 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Library Museum. George Minot will once again lead the discussion in Perry, which is free and open to the public and no registration is required. For more information on this and other upcoming events, stop in or call the Perry Library at 515-465-3569.