To foster a sense of community and provide an opportunity for calm conversation, the Canton Public Library will host a book discussion for two book titles whose inclusion in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools AP English curriculum was recently challenged.

Beloved, by Toni Morrison, will be the featured title of a February 27, 7:00 PM discussion and Waterland, by Graham Swift, will be discussed on March 27 at 7:00 PM.

"By hosting a discussion of these books, we can give our community a shared experience and promote a dialogue around the perspectives each individual brings from reading the book," says Rebecca Havenstein-Coughlin, department head of adult services. "The public library is an excellent forum for connecting our community in this manner."

The discussion will be led by library staff and is open to anyone in the Plymouth-Canton community ages 16 and older. Those interested in participating may register and pick up a copy of the book at the Canton Public Library beginning January 30.

Beloved: a novel by Toni Morrison — for which Morrison won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize, is described by its publisher, Random House, Inc., as "Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement."

Waterland by Graham Swift