News Release

So many books, so many choices…the San Francisco Public Library can help you decide. Launched this month, On the Same Page: San Francisco Reads, a new monthly reading program, will make a book selection with the goal of encouraging the reading and discussion of a single book throughout San Francisco. On the Same Page was developed in response to the overwhelming success of this year’s One City One Book citywide reading program.

This month’s selection is Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America by Theodora Kroeber. The life story of Ishi, the lone survivor of the Yahi tribe, is unique in the annals of North American anthropology. The story begins on the morning of Aug. 29, 1911, when Ishi, hungry and frightened, is found in the corral of a slaughterhouse near Oroville, Calif. After being identified as a member of the doomed Yahi tribe by an anthropologist, Ishi is brought to San Francisco where he lived the rest of his life under the care and protection of Alfred Kroeber and the staff of the University of California's Museum of Anthropology.

On the Same Page was made possible by a $30,000 budget allocation to the Library sponsored by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick. The money will be used to purchase additional copies of the selected reading for the Main Library and its branches. The Library plans to hold related programs and events, such as book discussions, author readings and exhibits, to encourage discussion around each month’s selection.

Library staff will choose On the Same Page selections based on many of the following criteria: availability in trade or mass market paperback; availability in audio format; availability in other languages; and potential for fostering lively discussion. All fiction, nonfiction, contemporary and classic works that meet these criteria will be considered.

For more information about On the Same Page, please visit the Library’s web site at http://www.sfpl.org/news/sanfranreads/sfreads.htm, or call 415.557.4277.