July 13, 2009
Washington, DC
One of the things about The Big Read that continually amazes me is the uniqueness of each and every project. There were 33 Big Reads on To Kill a Mockingbird in the last round, and not one project was the exact same as any other project. Sure they have things in common—not least of which is the novel—but each organization, and its many project partners, takes very seriously the expectation that its Big Read will celebrate the book but also, ultimately, celebrate the unique character of the community. Don’t believe me? Just click on one of the book titles to the right (under categories) to experience a little taste of the diversity of the projects we’ve been able to feature since we started this blog early last year.
To get back to Wilder, The Big Read program—and I think the one book-one community movement as a whole—is in many ways a “blank check” that each of The Big Read organizers and readers and event participants signs to make the project his or her own. Hmmm, come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like the essential experience of reading a book.
(Since a picture’s worth a thousand words, this post features just a few of the many images from this year’s To Kill a Mockingbird Big Reads. From top: Ashley Horner’s entry for the altered books project hosted by Southern Ohio Performing Arts Association; a portrait by Barbara Parker of then-Senator Joe Biden with a copy of the novel for Piedmont Arts’ Big Read; and the rotunda of Kansas’s Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.)