Whidbey Reads 2012 will feature the book “Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom From the Urban Wilderness” by Lyanda Lynn Haupt.

The author will also visit local libraries and schools during Whidbey Reads events in April.

Haupt was awarded the 2010 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for “Crow Planet.” The award is presented annually to an author whose book best captures the spirit of human relationship with the natural world.

Her other books include “Rare Encounters With Ordinary Birds” and “Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks.”

A committee of 15 library staff and community members selected the title and helped plan programs for upcoming events.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Whidbey Reads, a community reading program that brings Whidbey residents together to read and talk about books, and to meet the author of the year’s selected book.

Three community events with Haupt are planned so far. She will be at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Freeland at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18; 2 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at the Coupeville Library; and 7 p.m. April 19 at the Oak Harbor Library.

The author will also meet with students at South Whidbey and Oak Harbor high schools, and the Skagit Valley College Whidbey Island campus.

Copies of the author’s books may be checked out at the Clinton, Langley, Freeland, Coupeville and Oak Harbor libraries, put on hold at www.sno-isle.org, or purchased from local independent booksellers. Books will be available for purchasing and signing at the events.

Other events are also planned for this year’s Whidbey Reads.

On Saturday, March 3, the public can join site stewards at five Whidbey Camano Land Trust preservation sites across Whidbey; Del Fairfax Preserve, Rhododendron Park, Trillium Community Forest, Saratoga Woods and Hammons Preserve. Tour times are 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m.

The Pacific Northwest Art School has helped the Whidbey Reads program by doing an “All Caw” to artists for the Whidbey Reads “Something to Crow About” art show. All Whidbey libraries will have crow art by local artists on display.

For other Whidbey Reads events, check the community events in this paper or go to www.sno-isle.org, and click on “Events and Programs.” Eight book discussions are scheduled throughout the island, as well as author, art, films, science and poetry programs.

Whidbey Reads is a collaborative effort between Sno-Isle Libraries, Friends of the Library groups from Clinton, Langley, Freeland, Coupeville and Oak Harbor, the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation, Skagit Valley Oak Harbor College, Whidbey Book Groups, Best Western Harbor Plaza in Oak Harbor, Oak Harbor Walmart, and Whidbey Island Bank. Partnerships include Island County Beachwatchers, Island County Historical Society Museum, Pacific Northwest Arts School, Whidbey Audubon, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Whidbey Island Arts Council and Whidbey Island Writers Association, South Whidbey High School and Oak Harbor High School.