BY SARAH BARBAN, Eastern Shore Post —
Winter can be a lonely time, with cold weather keeping many indoors, but Cape Charles Memorial Library has a program that aims to bring residents together through two classic winter pastimes — reading and watching movies.
The idea behind the Cape Charles Town Wide Read is to get as many residents as possible to read the same book and then join a discussion of the book, a film screening of the movie adaption of the book, or both.
This year’s selection is “Hidden Figures,” by Margot Lee Shetterly. The book is available at the Cape Charles Memorial Library in advanced reader, young reader, and children’s editions — one of the requirements for a book to be considered for the Town Wide Read.
“We’re a small community and we’re trying to focus on cohesion,” said Cathy Fox, chair of the Cape Charles Memorial Library Board of Directors.
“For the people who live here all the time, this is a wonderful activity to help everyone come together,” she said. “There’s no politics involved, there’s no agenda. It’s just a great family-friendly activity. That’s the purpose of the library; it’s open to all.”
With the Town Wide Read taking place in February, the board felt it would be appropriate to celebrate Black history as well, Fox said.
“Hidden Figures” details the true story of how black women at NASA played an instrumental role in sending the first astronaut into orbit.
Books must have a movie adaptation to be considered for the Town Wide Read. The book discussion and film screening for the 2025 Town Wide Read will be held on Sunday, Feb. 16, at Cape Charles Christian School, 237 Tazewell Ave., in Cape Charles.
The book discussion will be held at 2 p.m. and the film screening will start at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Residents can participate in the discussion, the screening, or both.
The book discussion will be moderated and there will be age-appropriate activities related to “Hidden Figures” for kids to engage with.
The Town Wide Read was started in 2018 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Cape Charles Memorial Library, Fox said.
Roger Moyer, who served as the library’s board chair at the time, was the force behind bringing the event to town.
“I’m a reader,” Moyer said. “Now that I’m over 80, it’s one of the big things I do. When you live in Cape Charles during December, January, and February, it can be a little bit lonely and cold and a lot of people are gone.”
“It just seemed like a good thing to do to get people doing something together rather than just staying in your individual house and not communicating,” he said.
Participation over the last seven years has been strong, Fox said. Several book clubs have adopted the Town Wide Read book as their read for January, February, or March in order to participate, which has strengthened the program. There’s always room for growth, however.
“It’s not as large as we want it to be,” Fox said. “Participation at the movies has been about 30 to 50 people and we’re hoping this year there will be more, especially because the subject is ‘Hidden Figures,’ which is tremendously popular.”
Participating in the Town Wide Read is a good way to become more engaged, Moyer said.
“I don’t like having my phone constantly in my hand, so it’s a way to get away from that and to immerse yourself in something that’s really worthwhile.”
