Join Your TownEducation 
By SUBMITTED
Maggie Holmes, Adult Services Librarian at Richards Memorial Library, Sam McLanahan, library trustee and Project Director for the Big Read of Eastern Massachusetts, and Frank Ward, library Director, review a copy of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
North getting set to hit the books
Fri Jan 11, 2008, 01:58 PM EST
Richards Memorial Library is part of a group that has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in "The Big Read," a nationwide initiative of the NEA designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.
The Library will join forces with UMass Boston, Healey Library at UMass, public radio station WUMB-FM in Boston, the Newburyport Literary Association, and Silver Lake Gallery and School in Newton to present The Big Read of Eastern Massachusetts.
Starting with a kickoff event on March 1, Richards Memorial Library will present and organize a number of public events all geared towards getting as many community members as possible to read and discuss Harper Lee's classic novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
The Big Read of Eastern Massachusetts is one of 127 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read between January and June 2008. Since the program's national launch in 2006, the NEA has funded more than 300 Big Read programs in the nation's towns and cities.
“This represents our fourth community-wide read program and our first opportunity to work with other communities and organizations outside of North Attleborough,” explains Maggie Holmes, Adult Services Librarian at the Richards Memorial Library. "We are busy preparing programs to reach a variety of groups. In addition, we plan to work closely with the North Attleborough High School community."
Says NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, “In just two years, the Big Read has grown from 10 communities to include nearly 200 towns and cities nationwide. Although each of these communities celebrates its Big Read program in its own way, one theme that we consistently hear back is that The Big Read is not just bringing citizens back to the joy of reading, but also reinvigorating the very idea of community."
The Richards Memorial Library will receive grant money and supporting materials that will be available to local book discussion groups, home-schoolers, schools, and other local groups, individuals, or organizations who want to get involved.
For more information on the Big Read, including FAQs, the complete list of Big Read novels, and application deadlines, visit www.neabigread.org.
To learn more about the program in North Attleborough, contact Maggie Holmes at 508-699-0122.
