It’s the best committee I’ve ever been on.”

Kari Jaeger, high school teacher and Hastings Reads coordinator

For 20 years, Hastings Reads has highlighted books, hosted events and brought authors to Hastings to speak to students and community members about their work. This year, the program will highlight Anton Treuer who will speak at the Hastings Arts Center Feb. 17.
Hastings Reads selects three books across three ages levels, adult/high school, middle school, and elementary, and hosts a slew of events, from book talks to film screenings to crafts all based around a theme or author.
“It’s different every year,” said Kari Jaeger, high school teacher and Hastings Reads coordinator.
The Hastings Reads Committee works to select an author and set up events each year. The committee is composed of volunteers including teachers, librarians, members of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) members of the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library nonprofit, Community Education members, YMCA employees, and members of the community.
“It’s the best committee I’ve ever been on,” said Jaeger.
Each year the committee’s starting point is either an author or a theme. Last year, the committee focused on an author, with Kao Kalia Yang writing all three books featured across ages. In other years, books are chosen from different authors that highlight a similar theme like in 2016 when the theme “making connections” was chosen and featured books from Allen Eskens, Katherine Applegate, and Charlie Johnson.
The theme this year is “Water, Wilderness, and Wisdom: Coming together through Native American Teachings.” The featured books are “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask” and “Where Wolves Don't Die” by Anton Treuer, and “We are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom.
Jaeger is open that while the process of selecting a theme and author is often messy, it “wonderfully falls together each year.”
Treuer was a focus of the committee after several ISD 200 staff members attended the Minnesota Book Awards where Treuer won for Young Adult Literature for “Where Wolves Don’t Die.” In addition, Treuer spoke in Hastings in 2020 where he Zoomed in to speak about dispelling cultural myths.
The celebration of Treuer’s new book, in addition to having books across the high school and middle school ages, made him an early pick for the committee.
The third book, “We are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom came from a parallel impulse around the theme of water.
“It felt important to Hastings right now,” said Jaeger.
Hastings Reads is celebrating its 20th year. The program began in 2007 as a joint effort between former Middle School Assistant Principal Allen Saunders and Media Specialist Glenda Peak with a “What If” grant from the Hastings Public School Foundation. The initial idea was based off One Book programs, community activities where community members all read a single book in order to come together to discuss it. Rather than having a single book, however, Saunders and Peak imagined a tiered program that allowed not only adults to come together to read a single book but middle-school-age and elementary-school-age children as well.
That tiered approach sets Hastings Reads apart from many community reading programs.
“We are unique,” said Jaeger.
In reflecting on how the program has changed in those two decades, Jaeger said: “We feel more of an obligation to provide things that schools used to provide but can’t anymore because of budget cuts.”
What hasn’t changed in those 20 years has been the community partnerships that work with Hastings Reads to support events and keep the program coming back year after year.
Hastings Reads is funded from a number of sources including SPARK grants through St. Croix Valley Foundation and The George and Ruth Doffing Charitable Fund.
“We really, really rely on them,” said Jaeger.
In years past, the program has partnered with the LeDuc mansion, Hastings Beauty School, the Hastings YMCA, and many others to keep Hastings Reads grounded within the community.
This year, the group is partnering with the Hastings Environmental Protectors for an event at Schaar’s Bluff Gathering Place for a presentation on the environmental history of Dakota County as well as what local organizations are doing to make a difference.
All the Hastings Reads books this year can be found at the Pleasant Hill Library. They can also be bought at the Hastings YMCA and Tilden Community Center as well as at the Author Visit at the Hastings Arts Center from 6:30-8 p.m. Feb. 17.
For more information about Hastings Reads, including a full list of free events throughout February, visit https://sites.google.com/site/mnhastingsreads