Reading Together: Wayne County Reads 2006

Literacy and critical thinking are cornerstones to building a strong community. A society populated with skilled readers and thinkers are able to examine and solve problems with a level of sensitivity and insight that leads to far-reaching and effective solutions.

The Wayne County Public Library encourages this idea with the Wayne County Reads program, a county-wide activity that encourages members of the community to read the same book and then come together for discussion and reflection on the book’s content.

“The hope is that as people share ideas and thoughts, they build a stronger community,” says Jane Rustin, Director of the Wayne County Public Library System. “It’s a wonderful mechanism to encourage reading and ideas and to think about the issues of our time.”

For several years, libraries across the country have been sponsoring community-wide programs to encourage literacy and literary discussion. The Wayne County Public Library started its incarnation of the program in 2004. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was the selection that year, and numerous events were held across the county. There were discussion forums at Wayne Community College, a lecture on the book’s film adaptation at the Library’s Gertrude Weil Auditorium, and a trivia question contest sponsored by the News-Argus. In 2005 the community engaged in similar events while reading Big Fish by Daniel Wallace.

People participating this year will read a stirring, often unsettling, but always enlightening account of one of history’s great tragedies; Night by Elie Wiesel, a first-hand account of one person’s experiences in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.

“We always choose a serious book because we want a work with meaning and depth that would encourage reflection and discourse,” says Rustin.

With a work of such depth as Night, it’s possible that this could be the most moving Wayne County Reads event yet.

There will be numerous events of similar nature to those in the past and this blog will be used as a forum of discussion for the novel. Anybody wishing to participate can check out a copy of the book from the Library, and Books-A-Million located on 1101-D Berkeley Blvd. has several copies of the book in stock. Just ask for it at the front desk.

For more updates on the Wayne County Reads program, stay posted to the Library’s official web-site, the News-Argus, and this blog.