The Collegian

Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Marieke van der Vaart Hillsdale residents will read "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls for this year's "big read."

Several teams of high school students will construct castles with nonperishable food cans as the finale event of this year's Hillsdale County's Big Read that kicks off at Hillsdale Community Library this Saturday.
The second annual county-wide reading program, funded by Hillsdale County Community Foundation and the Michigan Center for the Book, is spearheaded by Hillsdale Community Library. This year, participants will read "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls.
The event starts this Saturday and will last until March 21.
Hillsdale Library's Coordinator of the Big Read, LeAnne Rumler, said she picked "The Glass Castle" for its powerful portrayal of homelessness and poverty. It depicts the adventures of a girl raised by drifter parents.
"'The Glass Castle' struck a chord with people" Rumler said.
Hillsdale College's Public Service Librarian, Mark Maier, the former head of Hillsdale Community Library, said the book will connect well with members of the community.
"A number of groups had read it and thought the issues of poverty might resonate with this community," he said. "The issue of someone growing up in poverty is pretty universal."
Big Reads across Michigan differ in their set-up, book choice and organization. Matt Willis, director of the Big Read program in Battle Creek, Mich., says that's the beauty of the program.
"There's no one-size-fits-all," Willis said. "The most important thing is just to get the book out there."
Big Reads all center on a book chosen by a panel of event coordinators, offer a discussion guide and advertise forums for community members to discuss the book during a time period of about a month. Bigger counties in Michigan often invite the author of the book to come and speak as the grand finale of the program. In Hillsdale County, the finale will be a little different.
Part of the state sponsorship of the program involves free copies of the book that are distributed throughout the community. Rumler and her associates found a way to tie in book distribution to the theme of poverty in the book: a canned food drive.
The Hillsdale program is centered on a food drive coordinated with five different community partners: King's Kupboard, Opportunity House, St. Peter's free clinic, Domestic Harmony and LifeLine.

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