This year’s Big Read program kicked off with a celebration January 14 at the Morris Hill Dog Park in Boise, complete with doggy biscuits for dogs, doggy cookies for dog lovers, and Big Read bandanas for all--fitting for this year’s title, The Call of the Wild by Jack London. The Big Read Boise and Beyond is presented in partnership with Ada Community Library,  Boise Public Library, The Cabin, and the Idaho Statesman. 

Project coordinator, Mary DeWalt, welcomed attendees, and Idaho Statesman Columnist, Dan Popkey, gave a brief history of the origin of the Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. Boise’s community reading project began in 2001 and was called ''What if Everybody Read the Same Book? A community-wide book club.'' The project shifted to the Big Read in 2006, when the NEA chose Boise as one of 10 communities to pilot the project. Organizers have won a Big Read grant each year since then.

Associate State Librarian, Marj Hooper spoke of the importance of adult reading and described how libraries from Marsing to Driggs to Lake Pend Orielle are facilitating this community conversation. 

Boise Mayor Dave Bieter emphasized the value of the Big Read and libraries to the community, noting that in the past two years area libraries have gained 25,000 new cardholders. 

See photos from the kickoff at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38963497@N03/sets/72157625830817202/

The Call of the Wild is being celebrated with a full calendar of events including author appearances, film screenings, outdoor activities, and lively book discussions in and out of libraries across the state.
See the full calendar of events for The Big Read at http://media.idahostatesman.com/smedia/2011/01/10/17/Big_Read_2011_Calendar.source.prod_affiliate.36.pdf.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.