If you’d like your summer reading to take you beyond the beaten path, librarian Nancy Pearl is here to help.

Everyone’s go-to books guru is coming to Orcas to reveal “under the radar” reads – books she thinks deserve more attention than they’ve been getting –  and recommend some great summer reads.

Join us as we welcome Nancy on Wednesday, July 16 at 1:30 p.m. in the Victorian Room at the Outlook Inn in Eastsound.

Nancy Pearl is a regular commentator about books on NPR’s Morning Edition and NPR affiliate stations KUOW in Seattle and KWGS in Tulsa.

The New York Times calls her “the talk of librarian circles.” Readers can’t get enough of her recommendations and bookstores and libraries offer standing room only whenever she visits.

Since the release of the best-selling “Book Lust” in 2003 and the Librarian Action Figure modeled in her likeness, Nancy Pearl has become a rock-star among readers and the taste-maker people turn to when deciding what to read next.

Having worked as a librarian and bookseller in Detroit, Tulsa, and Seattle, Pearl’s knowledge of and love for books is unmatched.  In 1998, she developed the program “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book,” which spread across the country, even inspiring a similar event on Orcas.

The former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book, Pearl celebrates the written word by speaking at bookstores and libraries across the country and on her monthly television program “Book Lust” with Pearl on the Seattle Channel.

In 2004, Pearl became the 50th winner of the Women’s National Book Association Award for her extraordinary contribution to the world of books.

In the moments when Pearl finds herself without a book, she is an avid bicyclist and the happy grandmother of two.  She lives in Seattle with her husband, Joe.

“We know what a great reading population we have here on Orcas, generally ranking in the top three libraries per capita in the state of Washington for circulation,” said Orcas Librarian Kathleen Lunde. “Come join us and show Nancy what enthusiastic readers we really are.”

This event is sponsored by the Orcas Island Library and The Friends of the Library, and is free of charge. There will be a chance to purchase books and have them autographed by Nancy, and they will be raffling off signed copies of some of the recommended books.

For more information, contact Lunde at the library at 376-4985.