Background of Mississippi Reads

“Mississippi Reads” has been inspired by the popular “One Book” movement, which connects people to literature through readings and discussions. The movement began in 1998 when Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book, initiated “If All Seattle Read the Same Book” and invited the community to read The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks.

“One Book” projects have subsequently blossomed all over the country, growing from 63 in 30 states in June 2002 to more than 350 in all 50 states in December 2005. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress lists “One Book” projects on its Web site ( www.loc.gov/cfbook/ ) both by state/city and author/book title.

This year the National Endowment for the Arts initiated “The Big Read” project in response to a (big) need identified in its 2004 report Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. The report shows “that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. The concerned citizen in search of good news about American literary culture would study the pages of this report in vain.” Ten communities participated in “The Big Read” in 2006 and were asked to read and discuss one of four books: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. More communities and additional books will be added in 2007 and thereafter.

In October 2006, Starkville Reads, received a National Endowment for the “The Big Read” grant for the spring of 2007 (check out the NEA site map of communities here). The Starkville Reads NEA Big Read will run from February 15 - March 31, 2007. Currently, three Mississippi projects are on the Library of Congress’s “One Book” list. The Mississippi Library Commission promoted the reading of Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland in 2004. The Jackson-Hinds Library System sponsored community-wide readings of A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gaines in 2003 and Mississippi Solo by Eddy L. Harris in 2004. And “Starkville Reads,” an extension of the Starkville Public Library, read The Return of Gabriel by John Armistead in the spring of 2006 and selected The Black Flower by Howard Bahr for the fall.