Nancy Pearl
How do we bring together people of diverse backgrounds, politics, interests, and lifestyles when all they share is a common city? Librarian Nancy Pearl tried using a book. It worked, and the idea spread around the country (as good ideas tend to do).
What began with a simple “If All Seattle Read the Same Book” in 1998 has developed into a national phenomenon. Libraries, colleges, towns, schools, and even states now host Books In Common type programs. The National Endowment for the Arts funds and supports “The Big Read” project, which aims to return literature to a central place in American culture. In this age of increasingly fragmented society, books and a shared love of reading still bring us together.
Books can provide the starting point for community discussions on the issues important to us and our society. Or they can provide a shared fun. Even when we disagree over whether we like a certain book, its characters, its story, and its conclusions, we draw closer to the people with whom we share the reading experience.
How do they draw us together? In a 2007 interview, Pearl said: “Reading a book is one of the few ways that we can enter the world of another person.” The ability to see the world from others’ perspectives and empathize with them helps us develop strong communities and relationships with others.
So how exactly does one go about organizing a Common Read? The possibilities are as varied as the people you’ll meet in the process. Nancy Pearl values books by contemporary authors and that inspire good discussions. Other Common Reads select classics by such authors as Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain, and Harper Lee. Some programs host authors for readings; others create educational programs on other cultures, local history, and science topics raised by their current book.
When we contacted Nancy Pearl for an interview in our inaugural newsletter, Nancy was excited to participate but as our deadline neared she let us know she was in Europe because the US government was sponsoring a One Book project in Bosnia and Nancy was there teaching librarians and teachers about leading book discussions. She was excited about the future of the Common Reads concept as it continues to spread across the globe, but we’ll have to catch up with her in a future issue.
