The Missouri River Regional Library has selected "A Girl's Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America's Secret Desert" by Karen Piper to be its 14th Capital READ book.
"Karen Piper's book is a beautifully written memoir about her childhood and adolescence growing up in a secret naval facility and her discovery of the outside world during the latter years of the 20th century," according to an MRRL news release.
Piper will be at the library at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 to speak about her book.
Librarian Madeline Matson said the library wanted to find a non-fiction book for this year's Capital READ. Piper's book is a memoir and she is a professor at the University of Missouri, so they thought it would be perfect.
"It's gotten really good reviews, she's had a really interesting life," Matson said. "She's a water specialist and has gone all over the world researching water scarcity; we thought it would be of interest to a lot of people."
Along with Piper speaking about her book, the library will also host related programs. While no specific plans have been announced yet, Matson said they would be related to the Cold War and missile sites in Missouri.
Readers can purchase the book themselves or check it out from the library, which currently has around eight copies.
This is the 14th year of the Capital READ program. Past Capital READ titles have included "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, "A Good American" by Alex George, "The Free" by Willy Vlautin and "The End of Your Life Book Club" by Will Schwalbe, among others.
The book is part of the library's summer reading program and will count as two books for those participating in keeping track of how many books they read over the summer.