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Readers' reward - Lunch with 'Tale for Three Counties' author
March 15, 2008
Local News
By Tom Rivers
trivers@batavianews.com
LE ROY - Leatha Taber has read all six "A Tale for Three Counties"
books since the community reading project started in 2003.
The latest book was "difficult," showing a fictional small
town's effort to prevent a killer flu from ravaging a mining town. Taber
didn't expect the grim topic to be such a page-turner. But the book
proved griping -- and terrifying.
"This wasn't a fun piece of fiction," said Taber of Albion,
a retired Department of Social Services worker. "This was difficult
because the flu worries people. A lot of people are getting the flu
right now."
Taber was among six winners of the Tale book review contest who enjoyed
lunch and discussion Friday with the book's author Thomas Mullen.
Taber and Kathy Gleason of Holley both were essay winners. They are
regulars in the Swan Library book club, which meets monthly. The group
read The Last Town on Earth and discussed it last month.
This time the book group has the added perk of meeting the author in
person. Mullen today wraps up a three-day visit to the area, leading
discussions about the book.
Linda Daviau of Batavia also has read all six Tale books. The repeat
essay winner teaches third grade at Elba. Her students were thrilled
she won the chance to have lunch with Mullen at the D & R Depot.
"You need to practice what you preach when encouraging children
to read," she said. "It's not just something we shove down
their throats. I want them to see it's something you enjoy forever."
Daviau said the book informed her about World War I and the influenza
outbreak in 1918 that wiped out communities throughout the country.
She was impressed Mullen, 33, could write such a weighty book - with
the widespread death and complex emotions and relationships - in his
late 20s.
The book was an eye-opener to a time in American history that gets little
attention, said Joyce Thompson-Hovey, a fifth-grade teacher in Attica.
"This was a time period I didn't know much about," Thompson-Hovey
said. "It's kind of forgotten period."
The book is critically acclaimed and Mullen said the rights have been
purchased to produce a movie. He is thrilled with the public response.
He benefited from the book's timing during heightened awareness about
Bird Flu and other contagious killer viruses. When he wrote the book,
mass outbreaks weren't in the news. But when it was published, SARS,
Bird Flu and other potential plagues were worrying government officials.
"The book became timely by accident," he said.
He just finished a draft of his second novel, a story set in the Great
Depression about bank robbers in the Midwest. After their father died,
two brothers rob banks while the other brother stays home to support
their mother. That's all Mullen would divulge about his next tale.
The essay contest winners included Ann Burlingham, owner of Burlingham
Books in Perry, and Meghan DeGolyer-Hauser of Perry, the only five-time
winner of the contest.
DeGolyer-Hauser, co-owner of Table Rock dairy farm in Castile, said
the contest is a "great incentive to meet the author." She
peppered him with questions about the writing process.
Mullen also discussed the book Friday evening at Lee-Whedon Memorial
Library in Medina. He will lead a final discussion today at 2 p.m. at
the Perry Elementary-Middle School auditorium.
This is his first time as the featured author in a community reading
project.
"Anything that gets people to read is good," he said.
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Courtesy of Batavia Newspapers Corporation