Books build community

Over the past two decades, libraries appear to be developing more initiatives to promote reading among adults and children in their communities. While libraries have always housed books and been the haunt of academics, some of the recent initiatives are aimed at widening the relevance of books, authors and literature to community life. As such, libraries are becoming community centres for culture and learning. I’d like to share a couple of initiatives that started small in a more local context but have grown and been successfully transplanted to other places.

One Book
“One Book” is a movement that started in Seattle, Washington back in 1998. Here the library selected a novel by Russell Banks entitled The Sweet Hereafter and promoted it as a book everyone in Seattle should read during that year.  The author was invited to spend three days in the community; various groups were also organized for discussion and community building. By 2003, the concept had gained traction such that the American Library Association began to provide funding, training and resources to enable its member libraries to launch similar annual “One Book” events.

The “One Book” initiative has taken various forms as it shifted geography. There are state and province-wide “One Book” programs, such as “Michigan Reads: One State, One

Children’s book” and Manitoba’s “On the Same Page.” In addition, city and regional libraries may hold their own reading challenges. In Ames, Iowa it is known as “The Big Read,” while Toronto, Ontario includes its “One Book” program within “Keep Toronto Reading,” a festival held each spring. Another iteration of the movement are One Book, One Campus programs, such as “One Book, One SFU” at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

The local selection of the “One Book” is based on locally relevant criteria. Classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury appear often on annual lists in North America. Canadian libraries are more likely to choose books by Canadian authors, including popular titles written by Lawrence Hill, Joy Kogawa, Terry Fallis and Joseph Boyden. However, some libraries select a title of particular local interest.  For instance, the “One Book Nova Scotia” offering in 2017 was If This is Freedom by Gloria Ann Wesley. This work of fiction is set at the time when former American slaves settled in parts of Nova Scotia. By reading a book like this together, Nova Scotians may further develop a shared sense of their history.

Forest of Reading
The Ontario Library Association (OLA) is Canada’s largest organization for librarians. In 1994 it launched a reading program to honour high quality and recently published books written by Canadian authors and intended for students in Grades 5 and 6.  It nominated 10 titles, and after a period of several months solicited votes from student readers in selecting the winner of the Silver Birch Award for that year.  

Further categories have been added over the years, as follows:
10 picture books for Kindergarten to Grade 2 (“Blue Spruce”)
Five junior novels and five simpler non-fiction for Grades 3 and 4 (“Silver Birch Express”)
10 fiction and 10 non-fiction for Grades 5 and 6 (“Silver Birch”)
10 fiction for Grades 7 and 8 (“Red Maple,” with 10 non-fiction added every other year)
10 fiction for Grades 9-12 (“White Pine”)
Eight titles of mixed genres and formats for ESL adults (“Golden Oak”)
10 titles of fiction and non-fiction for adults (“The Evergreen Award”)

In addition there are three categories for French language materials.  Book nominees for school-aged readers are announced in October, with awards being presented in May.  

Nominees for adult awards have a separate release and award schedule. According to a recent press release, the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading program now involves over 250,000 Canadians.

Libraries who register for these programs purchase a complete set of books in the categories of their choice and make them available to readers. Voting is generally done through a school or public library, but individual families may also register in order for their children to vote.  Registration happens online through www.accessola.org. Students voting for the award winner are required to have read at least five of the titles on their ballot. The culminating event called Festival of Trees is hosted in the Ontario cities of London, Toronto, and Waterloo in May 2018, but local schools and towns may hold simpler events, such as a reader’s breakfast or book clubs to promote student participation in the program. 
 

Reviews of three Forest of Reading Titles

I am not a Number
This picture book in the Silver Birch Express category is based on the true story of Irene, a First Nations girl who was taken to a residential school. The story is informed by the oral history of Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother on her father’s side. During her months at the residential school, Irene is stripped of her identity through a haircut, restriction from speaking her native tongue, being assigned a number, and teaching that actively devalued her culture and its traditions. Irene’s experiences build empathy within young readers, while avoiding the mention of horrific forms of abuse. After her year away from home, Irene and her siblings tell their parents what happened to them and are protected from further harm.

Big Blue Forever
Also in the Silver Birch Express category, this picture book combines a story-like and a scientific, fact-based telling of the same true events: the death of a blue whale off the coast of Prince Edward Island and how its skeleton came to be displayed over 6,000 kilometres away at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver, B.C. The rich photographs and illustrations complement the ways the story is told.  The process of burying and then unearthing the whale as well as extracting rancid oil from its bones is explained to help gain an appreciation for the complexity of creation and the work that goes into any museum display of formerly living things.

Fight to Learn
This collection of true stories from around the globe book appears on both the Silver Birch non-fiction list and the Golden Oak list. It highlights young people and adults who have made a meaningful contribution to the education of a marginalized group. For instance, we learn of student Babar Ali (age 9) of India who begins a school in his backyard for his impoverished peers who cannot afford school fees and uniforms. Over the years, his school expands and is eventually certified by the government. Other sites of inspiring initiatives are remote First Nations communities, Chicago, Uganda, and Europe among the Roma people. One notable feature of this book is it open discussion of the faith-based motivation of these educational heroes. Libraries are finding innovative ways of promoting a love of reading among children and adults.  In the process they are also providing an engaging context for community building.