As a parent of a young book lover, I wanted to express publicly my thanks to the Astor Library Friends Association for bringing such an inspiring author as Gennifer Choldenko into our midst as part of the “All Families Read” events hosted recently.

The event I attended focused on her writing the book, “Al Capone Does My Shirts,” a fictional story about a family living on Alcatraz Island in the 1930s. What a wonderful opportunity to hear firsthand what it’s like to take an idea and run with it, struggle with character development and story line consistency and have it result in a published work. Sharing the lectern with the author was local resident, Sharon Haller, who shared her real-life experiences growing up on Alcatraz Island. What a bonus.

I was delighted to find out that ALFA provided copies of the author’s books to all the local schools, giving many the opportunity to read her works that they might not have, otherwise. I am quite impressed that our library was able to partner locally with our Astoria schools and Hilda Lahti Parents Group and could pull something like this together for all of us to appreciate.

My congratulations to the staff and volunteers – well done.

Jeff Smith

Astoria