One City One Book

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One City One Book is a generic name for a community reading program that attempts to get everyone in a city to read and discuss the same book. The name of the program is often reversed to One Book One City, or is customized to name the city where it occurs. Popular book picks have been Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. [1]

Contents

[edit] Description

One City One Book programs take the idea of a localized book discussion club and expand it to cover a whole city. [2] The first such program was "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" in 1998, started by Nancy Pearl at Seattle Public Library's Washington Center for the Book. [3] Other cities copied the idea, and the Library of Congress listed 404 programs occurring in 2007. [1]

Each city's program has its own goals; these typically include building a sense of community and promoting literacy. [4]:5 Nancy Pearl warns against expecting too much from a program: "Keep in mind that this is a library program, it's not an exercise in civics, it's not intended to have literature cure the racial divide. This is about a work of literature." [2]

Programs typically involve more than having everyone read the same book. Some other activities that have been included are: book discussion sessions, scholarly lectures on the book or related topics, a visit by the author, exhibits, related arts programming (especially showing a movie of the book if there is one), and integration into school curricula. [4]:20-23

American Library Association puts out a detailed step-by-step guide [4] on how to organize a local program, including the critical step of picking the one book. The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress tracks all known programs and the books they have used. [1]

[edit] Criticism

For some, the mere idea of reading as a communal activity is repellent. The literary critic Harold Bloom said, "I don't like these mass reading bees.... It is rather like the idea that we are all going to pop out and eat Chicken McNuggets or something else horrid at once." [5]

Others are concerned about the temptation to use such a program to promote social values. Phillip Lopate fears a promotion of groupthink, saying "It is a little like a science fiction plot -- 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' or something." [5]

In New York City in 2002 the effort foundered when the selectors split into two rival groups, each with its own favorite: Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker and James McBride's The Color of Water. Both books were considered to be offensive to some of New York's ethnic groups. [2] [6] Nancy Pearl said, "It's turned into something not to do with literature but to do with curing the ills in society, and while there is a role for that, to ask a book to fit everybody's agenda in talking about particular issues just does a disservice to literature." [7]

Governments are sometimes concerned that their endorsement of reading a book will be viewed as endorsing the ideas or language of the book. In Texas in 2006, the Galveston County Reads committee recommended Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time as the choice for their county-wide read. There was much criticism of the choice from the Mayor and Council of Friendswood, who objected to obscenity in the novel, and said that it contained ideas that should not be promoted to kids and that taxpayer money should not be used to promote and purchase a book the community wouldn't approve of. [8]

[edit] The Big Read

The Big Read is another community reading program in the United States, put forth by the National Endowment for the Arts. It is designed "to restore reading to the center of American culture." It uses many of the same methods as One City One Book, but differs in having a central control, with each participating city selecting from a list of a few books. NEA also provides some funding. [9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "One Book" Reading Promotion Projects. Library of Congress - Center for the Book. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
  2. ^ a b c Rogers, Michael (April 1, 2002), “Libraries offer chapter and verse on citywide book clubs; in Seattle, Chicago, Syracuse, and even some states, the concepts and tactics vary, but collective reading grows. (News).”, Library Journal 127 (6): 16-18, ISSN 03630277, <http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA201851.html>. Retrieved on 2 May 2008 
  3. ^ “"One Book" programs span the nation”, American Libraries 36 (5): 19, May 2005, ISSN 00029769 
  4. ^ a b c Planning Your Community-Wide Read (PDF). American Library Association. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
  5. ^ a b Kirkpatrick, David D. (February 19, 2002), “Want a Fight? Pick One Book for All New Yorkers.(Metropolitan Desk)”, New York Times 151: B1(L), ISSN 03624331, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E7D91F3FF93AA25751C0A9649C8B63>. Retrieved on 2 May 2008 
  6. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (May 10, 2002), “One City Reading One Book? Not if the City Is New York. (Metropolitan Desk)”, New York Times 151: B2(L), ISSN 03624331, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E3DC1130F933A25756C0A9649C8B63>. Retrieved on 2 May 2008 
  7. ^ Burkeman, Oliver (February 27, 2002), “It's a novel idea, but nothing can get New York reading from the same page: One Book, One City sweeps the US. But the Big Apple can't even pick a winner.”, The Guardian (London, England): 3, ISSN 02613077, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/feb/27/books.booksnews>. Retrieved on 2 May 2008 
  8. ^ Lerner, Mason (January 28, 2006), “Reading group book creates controversy”, The Daily News (Galveston, TX), <http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=20bcbeec45a0a633ca9a98f9b5830fd0>. Retrieved on 2 May 2008 
  9. ^ The Big Read: Frequently Asked Questions. National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.