CASA ESJ Book Group Discussion
📖 Reading the book is not required to join us!
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
12:15 – 1:30 pm
Via Zoom
[Zoom link information emailed after Registration completed]
⌛ 1.5 hours of ESJ continuing education credit for attendance and 1 hour of training credit for every 100 pages read.
“James” by Percival Everett
From Percival Everett--a recipient of the NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and numerous PEN awards--comes James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "cult literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature (KCLS).
🔗 King County Library System Book Availability: https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S82C2415168
🔗 Seattle Public Library Book Availability: https://seattle.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S30C3938072
Questions? Contact facilitator: Bryan Abejon @ babejon@kingcounty.gov.
