Author will participate by phone in United We Read

Participants in some of this month's United We Read discussions will sample catfish pâte from Mississippi, talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Rick Bragg on the phone and maybe even dress up like their grandpa.

The second annual United We Read, a program that encourages the entire community to read the same book, begins with a discussion Monday night.

Bragg's "All Over but the Shoutin'" is a memoir about growing up poor in the South, his mother's sacrifices, his father's drunken betrayals and his own escape from the poverty he was born to. The book will be discussed during this year's United We Read events. Bragg will participate by phone during the Feb. 27 discussion, to be led by Southeast Missourian editor Joe Sullivan.

The first event on the schedule is Monday's discussion by Central High School English teacher Bill Springer at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. It begins at 7 p.m.

Other discussion leaders throughout the month will be Central High School principal Dr. Mike Cowan, who is a former English teacher, KFVS anchor Amy Jacquin and United We Read founder Julia Jorgensen, who is the Central High School librarian.

At the discussion led by Cowan Feb. 13, the refreshments will include catfish pâte, cake with caramel icing shipped from the Mississippi Delta and sweet tea, which Jorgensen calls "the table wine of the South."

Last year, United We Read sponsored discussions about John Grisham's "A Painted House" every day in February. This year's schedule is less ambitious, in part because only a few people attended some of last year's discussions, Jorgensen said.

"Our goal is to have one a week and perhaps have better attendance," she said.

Some of Cape Girardeau's informal book clubs are also reading "All Over but the Shoutin'."

Jorgensen chose the book because surveys taken during last year's discussions told her people wanted to read a nonfiction book by a living author, and one with a familiar setting. She has read all of Bragg's works and says the newer "Ava's Man" might be a better book but "All Over but the Shoutin'" is a better introduction to him. "I like his style, and he's easy to read," she said.

Bragg lives in New Orleans and is a roving national correspondent for the New York Times. He promised to do the phone interview from wherever he might be roving unless he's covering breaking news that night.

'The War with Grandpa'

While Cape Girardeau's adults are talking about "All Over But the Shoutin'," Blanchard Elementary School will take a similar group approach to the children's book "The War with Grandpa" by Robert Kimmel Smith.

The war occurs when Grandpa becomes a widower, moves into the house and is given his grandson's room.

The school has ordered 250 copies of the book, enough for every family represented at the school. Families will be encouraged to read and discuss the book together.

On Feb. 21, the last event on the schedule, the students and school staff will dress like their grandpas, and grandpas will be invited to the school for a show and tell session.

The book is written for grades 4 to 6, but principal Dr. Barb Kohlfeld says younger students will comprehend it. "They listen and understand on a much higher level than they read."

The all-school reading project was inspired by the staff's interest in last year's United We Read, Kohlfeld said. "We like chitty-chatting about books and figure the kids will, too."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182