Read For Peace! All-Ages Book Group on The Crown of Light 

Co-Facilitated by Savanna Holden & Rivera Sun
Tuesdays, February 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2024
4-5pm PT // 5-6pm MT // 6-7pm CT // 7-8pm ET
$60, scholarships available (Please ask! We want you to come.)
Intergenerational, open to ages 11 and up
Books must be purchased separately. Find them here or ebooks here.

Special Offer: Bring a younger or older friend for free. 

Build a culture of peace through peace literature and readers of all ages!

Bring your kids, grandparents, and friends of all ages to this lively, 4-week discussion group that explores an exciting fantasy novel about waging peace. Author Rivera Sun and youth facilitator Savanna Holden are co-facilitating a special intergenerational book club on The Crown of Light. 

The novel is a part of the award-winning Ari Ara Series and tells the story of a nonviolent Peace Force that halts violence and stops war in the border region between two feuding nations. Note: You do not need to have read the other books in the series. This story stands alone.

Readers age 11 and up will enjoy this book group. This story features a 14-year-old heroine and an intergenerational group of friends. 

With readers of all ages, this book group will have engaging conversations about the scenes of waging peace, the characters’ commitment to nonviolence, and the challenges they surmount. Discussion will be interspersed with real life examples, trainings in the skills the characters are learning, and some of the nonfiction stories that inspired the book. A great way to learn peace skills!

Stories of peace grow cultures of peace. 

Please bring an older/younger friend with you to this book group. Once you have registered, you can send us their email to ensure that they get the zoom link and invitation.

About the Book

In the jagged peaks of the Border Mountains, Ari Ara revives the ancient legend of the Peace Force, gathering friends and strangers to stop violence and prevent war. With the Way Between guiding their footsteps, they set out to wage peace. Before long, a rising threat makes them take drastic action.

Mysterious raiders are attacking villages, burning homes and terrifying families. Fingers point to the secretive Paika. For centuries, their clans have survived by double-crossing and backstabbing everyone else. But when young Finn Paikason is caught spying on the Peace Force, he swears the raiders are imposters. Ari Ara wants to believe him, but can she trust him? She can’t be certain – especially since this boy with storm-tossed eyes might be stealing her heart.

Stopping fights among villagers, thwarting bandit ambushes, and preventing battles across borders, Ari Ara and her friends seek the truth amidst a web of lies. Old enemies come back to haunt them. Friendships are strained to breaking. Tensions heighten between the two nations. When the Lost Heir is taken hostage, the Peace Force races to solve the mystery before the sparks of violence erupt into war.

Your heart will race along with the heroine’s in this exciting tale of waging peace.

Reviews

“The Crown of Light is a book that contains everything a great novel needs: a heroic female protagonist, colorful supporting characters, adventure, suspense, and most importantly, nonviolence used as a means to solve conflicts. I highly recommend the Ari Ara Series to educators and students!” —Robin Wildman, Nonviolent Schools Rhode Island

"I have been in youth work forty-five years, and I have never encountered a more important work than the Ari Ara series to share with young people and their advocates.” —Michael Harrington

“Ari Ara is the bedtime reading adventure for younger generations that completes my circle of peace literature.” —Patrick Hiller, father, bed-time story reader, Peace and Conflict Studies scholar

“The entire Ari Ara Series offers students a warm, exciting, and hopeful adventure, full of problem-solving, love of life, and worthy models of personal growth and peacemaking.” —Scott Springer, The Bay School, Maine

The Way Between Book Club For Youth, By Youth 

Thursdays, May 25, June 1, 8, 15
3-4pm PT // 4-5pm MT // 5-6pm CT // 6-7pm ET
Facilitated by Savanna Holden, open to ages 10-20
w/ special guest Author Rivera Sun on June 15
Fee: $60 (or $80 w/ a paperback or ebook)

Join 15-year-old facilitator Savanna Holden for a 4-session virtual book group on The Way Between. Fun, exciting, and entirely youth-led, this group is open to anyone ages 10-20. The novel follows the adventures of a young orphan, Ari Ara, who is chosen to be an apprentice to the great warrior Shulen in the mysterious Way Between, a path between fighting and running away. 

This book group is a space for youth to explore ideas around peace and active nonviolence, as well as anti-bullying, conflict resolution—and a great story! On the last session (June 15), Author Rivera Sun will join the group for a Q & A.

More About the Book:
The Way Between is the first book in the award-winning Ari Ara Series by Rivera Sun. It follows the adventures of an eleven-year-old girl who learns the (non)martial art of the Way Between. In an exciting blend of action, adventure, and fantasy author Rivera Sun boldly takes the genre in a new direction . . . that of waging peace, active nonviolence, and nonviolent movements. Challenging war cultures and military societies, The Way Between brings the skills of resolving conflict, anti-bullying, and ending violence into a coming of age story for a new generation of readers.

“… as magical as Tolkien and as authentic as Twain … this series should be read aloud to everyone, by everyone, from childhood onward.” – Dr. Tom Hastings, Director of Peace Voice

Note: If you sign-up for the book group at the $80 rate, your choice of a paperback or ebook is included. You can purchase the book separately from Pace e Bene here and get the whole series here.