Thanks are also due to many organizations and individuals for helping spread the word, for hosting programs, and for funding the series of events.

Funders:
New Hampshire Humanities Council
Pequawket Foundation
Anna and Kendal C. Ham Charitable Foundation
Friends groups from local libraries

Media:
WMWV and Roy Prescott and Mark Johnson
Conway Daily Sun and columnists Ed Parsons and Tom Eastman
Tom Ryan in his blog Tom and Atticus

Event hosts:
Lutheran Church of the Nativity
White Birch Books
ARLNH-North
Your local library

Tom Ryan will donate his speaker’s fee to the Animal Rescue League of NH-North. If you wish, donations to ARLNH-North will be accepted at this event.

At the Madison Library on Thursday, November 3 at 7 pm, One Book One Valley’s project humanist, Marcia Schmidt Blaine, will give a talk on “Saving the Mountains: New Hampshire and the Creation of the National Forests,” a look at the history of the mountains and trails that we all enjoy today.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Weeks Act, the law that created the eastern national forests. New Hampshire’s White Mountains played a leading role in events leading to the act. Focusing on Concord’s Joseph B. Walker and the Forest Society’s Philip Ayres, Marcia Schmidt Blaine will explore the relationship between our mountains and the individuals who worked to protect them in this New Hampshire Humanities Council program.

White Mountains:

• Beyond the Notches: Stories of Place in New Hampshire’s North Country, edited by John R. Harris, Kay Morgan & Mike Dickerman, Bondcliff, 2011.
• The White Mountain Reader, edited by Mike Dickerman, Bondcliff, 2000
• Every area library and bookstore has a good selection of hiking guides to the White Mountains–The 4000 Footers of the White Mountains (the guide Tom Ryan mentions in Following Atticus), a number of Appalachian Mountain Club guides, the tried-and-true guides by Daniel Doan–ask your librarian for a suggestion.

Human-dog relationships:

• Dogs Never Lie About Love: Reflections on the Emotional Life of Dogs, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Three Rivers, 1997
• Hidden Life of Dogs, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas,  Houghton Mifflin, 1993
• Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs, by Caroline Knapp, Dial, 1998.

And, as Roy Prescott reminded us on WMWV radio this morning, if you haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, it’s the best way to know why Atticus is such a cool name.

If you have already been to a “Following Atticus” book discussion, what were some of the things from the book that triggered the most or best discussion? Please tell us by leaving a comment.

At 6:30 pm on October 17, in the Conway Public Library’s Ham Community Room, the public is invited to the presentation “It’s Not About the Hike” by Nancy Sporberg and Pat Piper. The two New Hampshire hikers, both over age 50, decided to climb New England’s 4,000+ foot peaks. The presentation tells what they found within themselves along their journey. Their message is “you can do this, too!”

Never attended a book discussion? See our post from last year’s program encouraging newbies to attend.

If you’re leading a discussion, be sure to check out the book discussion guide prepared by Marcia Schmidt Blaine, our project humanist.