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(VIDEO) Mesquite: City council declares October Big Read month
By Lynn Proctor Windle, Managing Editor
The Mesquite City Council has declared October the month of The Big Read. Throughout the month organizations, ranging from the Mesquite school district, Eastfield College and various city departments are promoting reading.
The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.
Each participating organization hosts events that focused on one book.
This year, the focus is on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The futuristic novel weaves a tale of an American Society where critical thought through reading is outlawed. Themes include book burning and television supplanting books.
The central character Guy Montag is a "fireman,” which in Bradbury’s society means "book burner"). The number "451" refers to the temperature at which books burn “for good of humanity.
Events range from classroom discussions at the high school level to public lectures at the college level to readings from the selected work. The Big Read also draws in other forms of art. For example, Mesquite’s North Branch Library is hosting an art exhibit this month that is based on the characters of Fahrenheit 451 as interpreted by the Manga Book Club.
The Mesquite Main Library and Mesquite Arts Center are jointly sponsoring “A Celebrate your freedom to read.” Participants can enter to win copies of “Fahrenheit 451” by completing a form with the titles of books you would save from a burning or the titles of banned books you have read. Forms are available at all Mesquite public libraries and the Mesquite Arts Center. For more information on this event and others, visit www.mesquiteartscenter.org.
The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.
Each participating organization hosts events that focused on one book.
This year, the focus is on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The futuristic novel weaves a tale of an American Society where critical thought through reading is outlawed. Themes include book burning and television supplanting books.
The central character Guy Montag is a "fireman,” which in Bradbury’s society means "book burner"). The number "451" refers to the temperature at which books burn “for good of humanity.
Events range from classroom discussions at the high school level to public lectures at the college level to readings from the selected work. The Big Read also draws in other forms of art. For example, Mesquite’s North Branch Library is hosting an art exhibit this month that is based on the characters of Fahrenheit 451 as interpreted by the Manga Book Club.
The Mesquite Main Library and Mesquite Arts Center are jointly sponsoring “A Celebrate your freedom to read.” Participants can enter to win copies of “Fahrenheit 451” by completing a form with the titles of books you would save from a burning or the titles of banned books you have read. Forms are available at all Mesquite public libraries and the Mesquite Arts Center. For more information on this event and others, visit www.mesquiteartscenter.org.
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