- Information
- All Community Reads
Carnegie-Stout Public Library - All Community Reads
The book selected for this first-time, community-wide reading program is “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption” by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Torneo.
“Picking Cotton” is a New York Times best-seller that tells the true story of an unlikely friendship forged between a woman and the man she misidentified as her attacker and sent to prison for 11 years. Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton recount the harrowing details of their tragedy, challenging our ideas about memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and healing power of forgiveness.
The goal of the All Community Reads program is to have as many people as possible read the book and connect through their shared experience. Furthermore, the subject matter of the book is intended to engage the community in thoughtful discussion of racial and social inequities, restorative justice, and the aftermath of trauma.
Events for the All Community Reads program will take place throughout the month of October, including book discussions, movie screenings, and a panel discussion on restorative justice. Please see below for details.
The authors will visit Dubuque on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. They will present at the Five Flags Theater, 405 Main Street at 7:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
The author's visit has been made possible by the Dubuque Racing Association.
Special Thanks to our Lead Donors
Thanks to All of Our Sponsors!
- Pick Up Your Free Book Here Beginning September 30!
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- Attend an Event!
- Book Discussion Questions
- More Reading
- Thanks to Our Book Donors!
Carnegie-Stout Public Library
360 W. 11th Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
www.dubuque.lib.ia.us
Clarke University - Nicholas J Schrup Library
1550 Clarke Drive
Dubuque, IA 52001
library@clarke.edu
https://www.clarke.edu/academics/library
Five Flags Center
405 Main Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
http://www.fiveflagscenter.com
Fountain of Youth1497 Central AvenueDubuque, IA 52001
https://www.thefountainofyouthprogram.org
Hy-Vee – Asbury Plaza
2395 Northwest Arterial
Dubuque, IA 52002
https://www.hy-vee.com/stores/detail.aspx?s=53
Hy-Vee
3500 Dodge Street
Dubuque, IA 52003
https://www.hy-vee.com/stores/detail.aspx?s=52
Hy-Vee
400 S. Locust Street
Dubuque, IA 52003
https://www.hy-vee.com/stores/detail.aspx?s=235
Loras College Library
1450 Alta Vista Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
563-588-7189
https://library.loras.edu/home
River Lights
1098 Main Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
https://riverlights.indielite.org
Cascade Public Library
301 1st Avenue W.
P.O. Box 117
Cascade, IA 52033
563-852-3222
Email: cpl@netins.net
https://www.cascade.lib.ia.us
Clarke University – Nicholas J. Schrup Library
1550 Clarke Drive
Dubuque, IA 52001
888-825-2753
https://www.clarke.edu/contact-us/
https://www.clarke.edu/academics/library
Dubuque County Library District
5290 Grand Meadow Drive*
Asbury, IA 52002
563-582-0008
library@dubcolib.lib.ia.us
https://www.dubcolib.lib.ia.us
*Dubuque County Library District is headquartered at the Asbury branch. Additional branches are located in Epworth, Farley/Drexler, Holy Cross, and at the NICC Peosta Campus
James Kennedy Public Library
320 First Avenue East
Dyersville, IA 52040
563-875-8912
librarian@dyersville.lib.ia.us
https://www.dyersville.lib.ia.us
Loras College Library
1450 Alta Vista Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
563-588-7189
library@loras.edu
https://library.loras.edu/home
Northeast Iowa Community College Library, Peosta Campus
8342 NICC Drive, Main Building 200
Peosta, IA 52068
563-556-5110
libpeo-l@nicc.edu
https://www.nicc.edu/library
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Reu Memorial Library
333 Wartburg Place
Dubuque, IA 52001
563-589-0267
library@wartburgseminary.edu
https://www.wartburgseminary.edu/library
Picking Cotton – Discussion Questions
- 1. This memoir opens with a graphic description of Jennifer’s rape and the hoursfollowing it. What did you think of the choice to describe the crime in such detail? Do you think it was important, for you as a reader, to experience the crime in such detail? Was it important to experience the crime from Jennifer’s perspective? What did Picking Cotton demonstrate about how rape victims are treated and/or how rape cases are handled in the hours and days after the crime?
- 2. Paul, Jennifer’s fiancé asks, “Did you like it?” Jennifer tells us that, in reality,“The relationship ended then” (pg. 40). How do you respond to Paul? How do you assess him as a person?
- 3. Jennifer's family was less than supportive during her ordeal, while Ronald's wassupportive and believed in his innocence. What sort of impact, if any, do you think these had on the two over the years before Ronald was found innocent?
- 4. After reading Jennifer’s section of the book, did you find yourself feeling even alittle biased against Ronald even if you knew exactly what the book was about and that he was innocent?
- 5. Conversely, after reading Ronald’s part of the book, did you feel any resentmentor other negative emotion toward Jennifer?
- 6. During Jennifer’s narrative, she frequently writes that she wishes Ronald Cotton would burn in hell. What is Ronald’s attitude towards Jennifer in his narrative?
- 7. Jennifer went to great lengths to memorize what her attacker looked like, and stillshe chose the wrong man. Were you surprised to learn that memories can actually be corrupted, such that Jennifer actually saw Ronald’s face in her memory even after she know he was not really the rapist? Have you ever experienced a situation where your memory proved unreliable?
- 8. Were you surprised by how easily Ronald Cotton was convicted?
- 9. Were you surprised by what happened at Ronald’s second trial? How did you react to the knowledge that Bobby Poole had been bragging about his crimes? How did you feel when Jennifer looked Bobby Poole in the eye and did not recognize him? How did you respond when Ronald was convicted a second time?
- 10. Explain why you agree or disagree with Ronald’s decision that “I would rather die incarcerated than admit to being the rapist they claimed I was” (p. 92)
- 11. At what point, even while Ronald is still in prison, do you think he begins to become the “truly free man” Jennifer acknowledges on p. 249?
- 12. Ronald said, “I would like to hear what she has to say – in her own words – to me” (p. 237). What was Jennifer’s response? How would most of us ever find the words?
- 13. Ronald Cotton took no time at all to forgive Jennifer when she apologized to him. What do you think this says about him?
- 14. Ronald told Jennifer that he doesn’t “really feel like I have to” forgive Poole (p. 252). Why do you think this is?
- 16. How is it ironic that the book’s epigraph (p. 5) about those “whose spirits and who souls are free” comes from a statue of a Confederate soldier? (and pp. 70-71)
- 17. Do you believe race played a part in the equation at all? Why or why not? And if so, how much so?
- 18. There have been 365 people exonerated by DNA evidence since 1989. Of those exonerated 20 of them spent time on death row. Do these facts, along with reading this book, change your opinions or beliefs about people in prison?
Sources:
Kari Miller, Georgia Perimeter College
Livejournal.com
http://mynla.info/communityreads
Reading Group Guide, Macmillan.com
Non-Fiction - Adult
As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda by Catherine Claire Larson. Zondervon, 2009.
Justice on Both Sides: Transforming Education Through Restorative Justice by Maisha T. Winn and H. Richard Milner IV. Harvard Education Press, 2018.
Harm, Healing, and Human Dignity: A Catholic Encounter with Restorative Justice by Caitlin Morneau. Liturgical Press, 2019.
Healing Justice: Stories of Wisdom and Love by Jarem Sawatsky. Red Canoe Press, 2018.
In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families by Elizabeth Beck, Sarah Britto, and Arlene Andrews. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
The Little Book of Restorative Justice for Older Adults: Finding Solutions to the Challenges of an Aging Population by Julie Friesen and Wendy Meek. Good Books, 2017.
Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction by Lara Bazelon. Beacon Press, 2018.
Redemption and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Restorative Justice, edited by David Matzko, Vicki Schieber, and Trudy D. Conway. Liturgical Press, 2017.
The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr. Good Books, 2015.
The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu. HarperOne, 2015.
Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction by Lara Bazelon. Beacon Press, 2018.
Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores by Dominique DuBois Gilliard. IVP Books, 2018.
Through the Glass by Shannon Maroney. Gallery Books, 2012.
Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair by Danielle Sered. New Press, 2019.
Writing my Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison by Shaka Senghor. Convergent Books, 2016.
Fiction - Adult
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. Ballantine Books, 2016. (This book stops just short of the last step in restorative justice – forgiveness and healing. The hopeful ending leaves you feeling that this would happen if the book were extended by one chapter.)
The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha. Broadway Books/Random House, 2009.
Young Adult
Free Radical by Claire Rudolf Murphy. Clarion, 2002. Ages 12 +.
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Balzer + Bray, 2017.
It Wasn’t Me by Dana Alison Levy. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2018.
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. Scholastic, 2002.
Children
Matthew and Tilly by Beth Peck and Rebecca C. Jones. Puffin Books, 1991. Ages 4-8.
Spaghetti on a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy. Cardinal Rule Press, 2008. Ages 4-11.
The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. McKissack. Aladdin, 2003. Ages 4-8.
Donors for Book Purchases
Carnegie-Stout Public Library Foundation
Enrich Iowa – State of Iowa
Friends of the Carnegie-Stout Public Library
Kiwanis Club of Dubuque
Mosaic Lodge No. 125, A.F. & A.M., Dubuque
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sisters of the Presentation