2020 Summer Read Highlights Resiliency

Now in its eighth year, Transforming Health’s Summer Read is proud to announce 2020’s selection-Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joyby Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. This powerful, inspiring, and practical book focuses on building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks. This year’s selection is an extension of Here With You, a special Transforming Health campaign designed to promote physical and mental resiliency during these challenging times and beyond.

All summer long readers throughout Central Pennsylvania are encouraged to check the book out from their local library and talk about it with friends, family, coworkers, book discussion groups and beyond. We have more than 80 participating libraries throughout nine counties.

“We’ve all experienced so much stress this year,” said Cara Williams Fry, WITF Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer. “The 2020 Summer Read is inspirational with a special focus on behavioral health and mental resiliency. Working in partnership with Central PA library systems, we’ll help make both hard and digital copies of the Summer Read available to library systems throughout the mid-state.”

About Option B

After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,'” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.

Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead.

Resilience Matters Now More Than Ever

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it–right now, we’re all living some form of Option B. Many of us are experiencing anxiety and loneliness. For those dealing with hardships like abuse, loss of a loved one, and financial insecurity, this crisis is even more difficult. Read an excerpt from Option B with a new foreword on resilience during COVID-19.

Read the Excerpt Register for the September 29th ‘Beyond the Pages’ Virtual Author Event

BEYOND THE PAGES

After reading the book, use this discussion guide to continue the conversation with other readers.

For tips on how to organize a socially distanced book club, click here

Complete a brief survey to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of the book and a VIP Invitation to hear Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant speak this fall at a special Virtual Author Event.

Entries must be submitted online or to your participating library by September 7, 2020.

Visit any of the following libraries to borrow the book and complete the survey. The survey is also available online.

BOOK DISCUSSIONS WITH YORK COUNTY LIBRARIES

York County Libraries hosted a series of discussions on issues raised in Option B in August and September of 2020.

These interactive events featured professional health specialists talking about different topics raised within the book. You can watch the recorded discussions in the playlist below, or view the videos on YouTube.

Additional YCL book discussions will be held online, including:

September 1, 8, 15, 22 at 6pm York Reads Online discussions (Live on Facebook) with Martin Library in York

The Summer Read is a unique community partnership of WITF’s Transforming Health, Aligning Forces for Quality- South Central PA and Central PA library systems with additional support from WellSpan Health and Capital BlueCross.