I'm not sure if this title would be classified as good or bad according to Darragh McManus. I'll mark it down as intriguing - and isn't that at least one function of a title?

"One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd" delivered on that promise.

The premise of Jim Fergus' novel is that a deal has been struck between President Ulysses Grant and Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf. One thousand white women for one thousand horses. The goal of the program: to help the Cheyenne become part of the white man's world via the children who would result from the exchange.

May Dodd volunteers to be one of those women.

You think your life is bad?? Imagine what your life would have to be like that you would rather be traded into a culture that was foreign to you than stay where you are?

The situation she finds herself in isn't quite as romantic as perhaps she'd hoped.

Fergus has created largely believable, if a bit too one-dimensional female characters and his story construct is a good one.

National Library Week is next week.

Please take some time to check out what's going on at your local library. We are fortunate in Northeast Ohio to be surrounded by a bevy of wonderful libraries.

Here's just a few of the things on tap next week at some of them:

Sights and Sound of Euclid Beach Park at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13 at Wickliffe.
Join Jim Seaman for an evening of history and reminiscing about Euclid Beach Park featuring a slide show and props. Registration at 440-944-6010 is required.

"Little Bee" by Chris Cleave will be the topic of discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14 at Euclid.

At Mentor, celebrity readers will entertain children with stories every day next week. Get the full schedule here.

Painesville's Morley will be the site of a 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 13 discussion of "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan. ( A book I enjoyed.)

Happy reading!

- Tricia Ambrose