Can a book unite a community?
Local educators, librarians and literacy advocates hope so.
Free copies of “Fahrenheit 451” will be available from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Burke County Public Library in Morganton for the kick off of Burke Reads, a month-long community reading program.
It’s not a requirement to read the book to participate, but the planned events will give you food for thought if you do, library Director Jim Wilson said.
“Fahrenheit 451” is set in a futuristic world where technology, speed and noise dominate and books are against the law. The novel follows Montag, a fireman whose job is not to put out fires but to set them to destroy books and sometimes homes.
The Library Foundation of Burke County President Jean VanNoppen said the foundation had talked from time to time about holding a community reading program, like other communities do, but most of the talk had been casual.
“This seemed like a good time because with the economy in such bad shape people just don’t have a lot of extra money to do things,” VanNoppen said. “And this is a program that is all free, and it’s a program where the community can come together and do something new, different. I think it’ll be fun for families, for everyone.”
Attendance isn’t compulsory for all events, but the month-long program begins with banned book week, Saturday through Oct. 1, and the Western Piedmont Community College Speakers Forum, which runs Monday through Sept. 29. The forum’s speakers will cover cyberculture, new media and the Internet.
Then on Oct. 14 WPCC English and Humanities Department Head Paul Wardzinski will present a message for the future pertaining to “Fahrenheit 451.”
And on Oct. 22, a day of outdoor fun is planned followed by an evening showing of the movie with the same title as the book.
The program comes to a close with a full immersion interactive installation, Mildred’s Parlor, at MESH Gallery.
“If you can appeal to all the people in the community, it (the program), gives them another reason to come together and interact over a common topic,” Wilson said. “And you can get a lot of different perspectives that you might not normally get. I don’t know if we’ve ever had anything like this here.”
If you can’t make it to the kick-off event to register and get a copy of “Fahrenheit 451,” you can still sign up and get a book, at one of the three library branches, VanNoppen said.
The program is sponsored by the Burke County Public Library System, Library Foundation of Burke County, WPCC, Morganton Day School, Burke County Literacy council, North Carolina School for the Deaf and Burke County Public Schools.
To learn more, and to download related guides, visit www.burkereads.org.
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