Our Community Reads picks `Mary Coin'

Our Community Reads has selected “Mary Coin” by Marisa Silver as its 2023 selection. Dorothea Lange's “Migrant Mother” is one of the best-known images of Depression-era California. Marisa Silver's “Mary Coin” is a richly imagined backstory — and afterstory — of that photograph.

Our Community Reads is a program of the Friends of the Aptos Library, in which the community selects a book and then comes together for a series of related events. These events are presented in association with the friends of the Capitola, Felton, La Selva Beach and Scotts Valley libraries, in partnership with Cabrillo College and Aptos High School, and with the support of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries.

Today at 6:30 p.m., Our Community Reads will host a panel “Farm to Table: Smooth Road or Bumps Along the Way?” at The Social Hall at Temple Beth El. The panelists will be Dr. Ann López, executive director of the Center for Farmworker Families; Dick Peixoto, owner of Lakeside Organic Gardens; Peter Shapiro, author of “Song of the Stubborn One Thousand: The Watsonville Canning Strike, 1985-88”; and moderator Alicia Bencomo Garcia, professor of Ethnic Studies, Cabrillo College.

All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Doors open half an hour before programs begin. Go to https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/ event/10128946 to register for the panel.

Our Community Reads will host a showing of “The Grapes of Wrath” Sunday at La Selva Beach Library, 316 Estrella Ave. Librarian with a special interest in Steinbeck, Topsy Smalley, will introduce John Ford's classic adaptation of the immortal Steinbeck novel. Go to https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/10128943 to register for the showing.