Last summer, the Fantastic Fictioneers, one of our library's book discussion groups, read The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede. This book is a true account of what happened in Gander, Newfoundland on September 11, 2001. Thirty-six planes with more than 6,000 passengers were diverted to Gander (population 10,000) because of the 9/11 attack. This small town and nearby communities amazingly provided these stranded people with every comfort they could imagine.
Friendship Bread by Darien Gee is another wonderful story of people-helping-people. In the fictional town of Avalon, Illinois, a young mother is struggling with a personal tragedy. Julia receives a starter of Amish friendship bread and the story begins. By sharing the recipe, she meets newcomers in town and connects with old friends. In a tiny tea shop, friends and neighbors bond by sharing the friendship bread, adding their own variations to the recipe. When a nearby community suffers a weather disaster, the ladies of Avalon use the tea shop and lots of friendship bread to help the neighboring town cope with their catastrophe.
I was reminded of this book again with the recent outbreak of tornades to the South. I'm sure many moving stories came out of Henryville and the neighboring communities--a lot of really feel-good stories. So read this really feel-good book.
