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In 2005, Library staff wanted to create an event that would get members of the community reading the same book. The goal of the program would be to get many generations reading the same title in order to generate discussions about literature between young people and adults. The name "Big Read" was chosen in a contest among staff. (The Library's program was developed and launched prior to the national "The Big Read", hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. However, our goals are almost identical — to get communities reading and talking about books.)
E.B White's Charlotte's Web had celebrated its 50th year of being in print in 2002, and in 2006, the first live-action film version would be released. Charlotte's Web was chosen as the title to launch the Library's Big Read. An enduring classic that explores love, friendship, and loss, it is a book that has as much to offer teens and adults as it does to children.
Big Read 2011, Voices of Conflict: The American Civil War, focused on multiple titles by local and national authors in honor of the Civil War's 150th Anniversary.
Big Read 2011 - Voices of Conflict: the American Civil War Booklist
KSMU presents readings of letters and journals written during the Civil War.
Read more about the impact of the Civil War in the Ozarks at Community & Conflict.
What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice, -- two city slickers from Chicago -- make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town? The story is set during the Great Depression and captures the self-reliance and independence of a feisty grandmother.
About the Author
Newbery-winning author Richard Peck has written a range of books for young adults, melding humor and warmth in titles like the Big Read feature, "A Long Way From Chicago", to thought-provoking stories dealing with social issues such as death and censorship.
Photo by Sonja Sones
Peck is a native of Decatur, Ill., and at age 37 left a career as a high school teacher to become a professional writer so he could write for the teenagers whose problems and struggles he saw as a teacher. He observed that young adults want approval from their peers and seek reassurance from their reading material.
Peck has also won the Newbery Award for "A Year Down Yonder", he wrote a popular series of books about Blossom Culp, two popular books featuring technology, "Lost in Cyberspace", and its sequel, "The Great Interactive Dream Machine".
His books have received or been finalists for the National Book Award, American Library Association Notable Books, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award.
Recollections and Connections podcasts
Interview with Richard Peck -- Listen now...
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores in a profound and riveting way the two broad themes of tolerance and justice. Narrated through the voice of a young girl nicknamed Scout, the novel treats the first through the children's fear of their mysterious neighbor and the second with her attorney father Atticus's courage in defending a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in the Jim Crow south of the 1920s. "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published in July 1960 to highly favorable reviews and quickly climbed the bestseller lists, where it remained for 88 weeks. In 1961, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize. The film, starring Gregory Peck, premiered in 1962, and won Oscars for best actor, screenwriter and set design. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech and in 1964 won the Nobel Prize. Forty-nine years after the publication of the book, America elected its first African-American president.
"No, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." —Chapter 23
Introducing the Souls — Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian, and their teacher Mrs. Olinski. From rescuing struggling baby sea turtles on the beaches of Florida to discovering kindness within others, these former "underdogs" and their teacher embark on a journey that not only brings them together, but helps them to realize their own full potential, not to mention win the state Academic Bowl. You don't have to be the most popular, a genius or a super athlete—you just have to give yourself and others a chance to shine.
An Excerpt From "The View from Saturday":
"It all starts," I said, "the minute the new hatchlings scamper over the sand toward the light of the horizon. Once they reach the water, they begin a swimming frenzy. They do not eat. They just swim and swim until they reach the Sargasso Sea. That is when they stop, and that is when Mother Nature turns off the swimming frenzy switch and turns on a graze and- grow switch. For the next five to ten years, they will stay in the Sargasso Sea, feeding off the small sea animals that live in the floating mats of Sargasso grass. Tonight when the wind blows that seaweed ashore, there will be a lot of immature turtles in it—swept along with the sea grass they have called home." ©E.L. Konigsburg, 1996
Meet eighth-grader Delrita Jensen and her uncle Punky, a 35-year-old man with Down syndrome. After moving with her parents to Tangle Nook, Missouri, Delrita, in constant fear that someone will discover the secret she's hiding, struggles with her own feelings about what it means to be different. As Delrita faces one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, she learns the hard way that it's okay to open oneself up to others and that happiness and love are feelings worth working for. Along the way, readers will meet a delightful cast of characters, including Avanelle and Tree Shackleford, siblings from a family that just moved to town and who have their own secret to hide, and Aunt Queenie and Uncle Bert, a childless couple who open Delrita's heart to unconditional love and understanding. You'll feel right at home in this story which takes place in the heart of the Ozarks, as they accompany Punky to McDonalds and step back in time at everybody's favorite theme park, Silver Dollar City.
Excerpt from the book: "I was an only child, but not exactly. My uncle, Punky, lived with us. This was his thirty-fifth birthday, but he'd always have the mind of a little boy. All my life, he'd been my built-in playmate, more like a younger brother than an uncle. "...I could picture him throwing quilts over the clothesline to make a tent for us and lining up chairs in the back yard to make a train. Of course, I was getting too old to play much anymore. Now, instead of having Punky watch after me, I was watching after him, trying to protect him from outsiders in a world that was growing up and leaving him behind."
© G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1992
Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him. This award-winning novel, first published in 1952, explores the themes of true friendship and the value of being trustworthy through the relationship of a likable pig and his loyal spider friend.
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