My Father's Books
Nationwide reading program comes to Harrisonburg
A thousand free books to be given away
By Hannah Northey, Daily News Record. June 25, 2007
HARRISONBURG — Free books, community gatherings and lots of discussion are coming to Harrisonburg, thanks to a federal grant the Massanutten Regional Library received from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The library received a $5,000 grant to host "The Big Read," an initiative to help curb the steady decline in the number of adults reading literature.
"We want our community to be excited about writing and come together through the art of literature," said Mary Golden-Hughes, the library’s public relations manager. "We’re proud to be the vehicle to do that."
The library will join the Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division in Arlington and the Barter Foundation in Abingdon in holding the program.
"It’s a national program, so to be one of the three organizations [in Virginia] to get a grant — that’s a pretty big deal," said Paulette Beete, public affairs specialists for the NEA in Washington, D.C.
More than 450 communities applied for the grants. The program, an initiative of the NEA and the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, will take place at 117 organizations nationwide from mid-September through the end of October.
Themes To Live By
Golden-Hughes said the program, which will take place at all nine branches of the library in the city and Rockingham and Page counties, will reach 150,000 people.
The program in Harrisonburg will focus on Harper Lee’s "To Kill A Mockingbird," a novel based on a lawyer, Atticus Finch, and his defense of an unjustly accused man.
Finch’s search for the truth and justice is intermingled with the story of Finch’s daughter and the discovery of her own goodness in the world.
"It’s a whale of a book," said David Kipen, director of literature at the NEA. "This is a timeless story about prejudice and growing up — it’s hard to imagine a better book for a community to come together around."
Golden-Hughes said the themes of justice and tolerance are just as relevant today as they were in the 1960s, when the book was published.
"To Kill A Mockingbird" was voted one of the top 100 most controversial novels of the 20th century, and a target of many ban attempts, according to the American Library Association (ALA).
The novel was first challenged in Eden Valley, Minn., in 1977, for language, according to the ALA.
Since then, other communities and school boards have attempted to remove the book from reading lists for classes and programs, according to the ALA.
But Golden-Hughes said the novel holds important lessons for the region because both the county in the book and the central Valley are similar in many ways.
"We’re a small community and we’re growing, but there are racial tensions here," Golden-Hughes said. "Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible."
Just as the book culminates in the month of October, the "Big Read" will run from mid-September and end in October.
"It’s a great time to end the program in the Shenandoah Valley," Golden-Hughes said.
Real Need For The Big Read
In order to reach all levels of readers, the library will give out 1,000 free copies of the book, 750 in English and 250 in Spanish, Golden-Hughes said.
Other activities, all bilingual, will include the creation of a mural, re-enactment of scenes from the book, theatrical shows and screenings of the film based on the book, Golden-Hughes said.
decline in popularity of literature among American adults.
The report, titled "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America," found that less than half the adult population in America now reads literature. "The Big Read" aims to address that decline, officials say.
The study, which compares surveys from 1982, 1992 and 2002, included input from more than 17,000 people, according to the NEA.
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