Action Book Club launches initiative by choosing member's book about neighborhoods

In the aftermath of a murder-suicide on his suburban street, National Press Club member and author Peter Lovenheim set out to explore how Americans live as neighbors today -- and what we lose by so often living as strangers.

His book, In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at Time published by Penguin/Perigee has been named a first selection of the Action Book Club, a national program launching Jan 25 by Little Free Library, Inc. The Action Book Club aims to promote reading, community connection, and good works.

"In the Neighborhood is a fascinating exploration of how getting involved in your community and being a 'good neighbor' can make a difference, making it a natural fit for the Action Book Club,” said Margret Aldrich, program manager at Little Free Library.

A work of narrative nonfiction, In the Neighborhood was awarded the L.A.-based Zocalo Public Square Book Prize, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and was a finalist for the M.S. Society Books for a Better Life Award.

"Lovenheim's writing is genteel and elegantly detailed. Using the sleepover as an innovative sociological lens, Lovenheim provides a smart . . . personal look at what Americans tend to lose by [going] about their lives largely detached from those living around them," said Publishers Weekly.

Since its founding in 2009, Little Free Library, Inc., has registered more than 50,000 book exchanges in all 50 states and in 70 countries. The non-profit has received the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize, the American Library Association’s Movers and Shakers Award, and the Library of Congress Literacy Award.

For more on In the Neighborhood, visit peterlovenheim.com.

Interested groups can sign up for Little Free Library’s Action Book Club.