This year’s ‘One Book, One Beaverton’ event features book on bringing healing to the homeless
Published 5:01 am Thursday, October 16, 2025
Once again, Beaverton City Library is preparing for its annual “One Book, One Beaverton” communitywide reading program and book giveaway, selecting Tracy Kidder’s “Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People” as its featured offering.
The 2026 selection is the eighth book the library has made available to the public as part of a special free book giveaway. A kickoff celebration is set this year for Saturday, Nov. 1, at two Beaverton library locations.
Books will be handed out from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the library’s main location, 12375 S.W. 5th St., and at Beaverton City Library at Murray Scholls, 11200 S.W. Murray Scholls Place. Books will be available at the library while supplies last.
“In ‘Rough Sleepers,’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder tells the inspiring story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented a community of care for Boston’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets — the ‘rough sleepers,’” said a library news release. “Deferring a prestigious fellowship, O’Connell turned what was supposed to be one year of service into his life’s calling.”
As a result, Kidder spent five years traveling with O’Connell, who navigated city streets at night and offered medical care along with socks, soup, empathy, humor and friendship to some of the the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Later, Kidder will be the focus of “An Evening with Author Tracy Kidder” set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Patricia Reser Center for The Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St.
Complimentary tickets to the author event will be available starting Nov. 1 at thereser.org.
For more information, visit BeavertonLibrary.org/1book or call the library at 503-644-2197.