RE: books

["Ron Force" <rforce@moscow.com>]

Here's a recent article on the phenomenon.

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Ron Force	      	  rforce@uidaho.edu
Dean of Library Services  (208) 885-6534
University of Idaho     Moscow 83844-2350
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'One Book, One City' Creator Worries
Sun Feb 24, 1:53 PM ET By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Nancy Pearl, creator of the "one book, one city" program, should
be feeling pretty satisfied.

Four years after she organized a Seattle-based reading of Russell Banks'
"The Sweet Hereafter," her idea of having a city's entire population read
the same book to get the community talking has spread throughout the
country.

At least 18 states have tried it, from Alaska to Florida; Los Angeles,
Chicago and New York are among the cities involved. Thousands of readers
have discussed such works as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Diary of Anne
Frank."

The concept has even been applied statewide. The California Humanities
Council is recommending "The Grapes of Wrath," to mark this year's
centennial of native son John Steinbeck. Virginia had a statewide reading of
native son William Styron's "Sophie's Choice," culminating in a reception
attended by Styron, and actors Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep, who starred in
the 1982 movie version.

But Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at the
Seattle Public Library, worries that the original purpose is getting lost.

"It's very gratifying that people are doing this, but this was never
intended to be a civics lesson," she says. "This was always intended to be a
library program that promoted a deepening engagement that helps people
engage in good books."

Pearl was especially concerned about the process behind New York's recent
selection of Chang-rae Lee's "Native Speaker," a novel about a
Korean-American who spies on a corrupt Korean-American city councilman, for
the city's reading program in the fall.

One of the organizations involved, the New York Women's Agenda, has withheld
approval, saying that "Native Speaker" is insensitive to Asian-Americans and
not appropriate for young readers.

"Our only criteria for the books we selected was that there's enough
substance in them for discussion and that we have an author comfortable
talking with an audience, not at an audience," Pearl said.

Although "Native Speaker" was officially announced last week as the chosen
text, the New York Women's Agenda issued a statement Friday saying the
selection hadn't yet been made.

"We still want to talk about it. We don't see it as a fixed kind of thing,"
said Barbara Gerard, who co-chairs the organization's city issues committee.

But a spokeswoman for BookExpo America, which helped facilitate the
selection of "Native Speaker," said she was surprised by the statement. "I
was under the clear impression that the committee had selected 'Native
Speaker' in a close vote and the decision was final," said Tina Jordan,
director of special events for BookExpo America, the publishing industry's
annual national convention.

Even the name of the New York program has been challenged. The official
title is "One Book, One New York," but the New York Women's Agenda is
calling it "New York Reads."

The "one city, one book" trend began modestly. Pearl and three others picked
Banks' novel and arranged three public gatherings, attended by about 1,000
people in all. Seattle has made it an annual tradition — about 1,500 turned
out last year for a poetry discussion with Bill Moyers as host.

The idea really caught on after Chicago's success last fall with "To Kill a
Mockingbird." Besides a public re-enactment of the novel's dramatic trial
and a screening of the Academy Award-winning film, discussion groups were
held at library branches, in coffee shops and on Internet chat rooms.

Mary Dempsey, commissioner of the Chicago Public Library system, estimates
the number of readers in the tens of thousands. That's a small percentage of
the city's total population, but far more than the usual involvement in
library programs.

"Public libraries always fall to the bottom of the financial totem pole,"
said Dempsey, who is organizing a citywide reading of Elie Wiesel's "Night"
for this spring. "If it sends a signal to politicians that people love their
libraries, maybe more will support funding them."

New converts to the "one book" cause are emerging all the time but don't
expect a "one book, one nation" project. John Cole, who directs the Center
for the Book at the Library of Congress, said the idea makes him
uncomfortable.

"We would have people complaining, `The federal government is telling us
what to read,'" Cole said. "I will leave this to the states."


 Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press.