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The Oxford community will host a Big Read next spring, celebrating Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Miami University's Center for Environmental Education, Natural History and Conservation, in partnership with Oxford's Lane Public Library, is one of 208 libraries, municipalities and arts, culture, higher education and science centers to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to host a Big Read between September 2008 and June 2009. The center received $16,000 from the NEA to promote and carry out community-based programs.
"We are thrilled to bring the Big Read to Oxford and surrounding communities," said Cecilia Berg, assistant director of the center and program director for Oxford's Big Read. "As an environmental organization, we believe literary reading is essential to an informed and enlightened public - and an informed public is necessary if we are to protect and preserve diversity in all its forms."
The NEA's Big Read was introduced in 2006 in response to a 2004 report that found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, the rate of decline is accelerating, especially among the young. ("Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America," www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html.) Beginning as a pilot project with 10 communities reading four books, by 2009 approximately 400 communities will have hosted a Big Read.
The Big Read is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. It gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss and celebrate one of 23 selections from American and world literature.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London is described by the NEA as "a great novel that can be appreciated by readers of all ages, as well as a philosophical book that provides an action-packed adventure ... it is an experimental novel (half the characters are canine, including the hero) that is a thrilling pleasure to read."
Oxford's Big Read will take place in March 2009, with events devoted specifically to the book, book discussions aimed at a wide range of audiences and related activities such as film screenings and exhibitions.
The Big Read is sponsored by the NEA in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Other Ohio communities that received grants for a Big Read (Sept. 2008-June 2009) include Cleveland, Columbus, Hiram, Massillon, Portsmouth and Sandusky. For more information about the Big Read, go to www.neabigread.org.
Miami's Center for Environmental Education, Natural History and Conservation is a comprehensive public service resource designed to promote an understanding and appreciation of biodiversity, conservation and ecology. Its core components include the Hefner Zoology Museum, the GREEN Teachers Institute and the Science Alliance. For more information, go to www.environmentaleducationohio.org.
For more information about Oxford's Big Read, contact Cecilia Berg at (513) 529-6085 or bergcf@muohio.edu.
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