United We Read - A huge success

By Julia Howes Jorgensen

In August as the organizing committee for Cape Girardeau: United We Read met, we had several questions on the table:

1. If Chicago, Seattle and the state of Kentucky could read as a community, could Cape Girardeau?

2. What book would connect with our community?

3. And, lastly, a daunting one: How will this be organized?

This raised a plethora of problems.

Finally, after much discussion, proposals and counterproposals and "let's see if it flies," we launched. Here were our answers:

1. Yes, obviously.

2. Atticus Finch, the hero of "To Kill a Mockingbird," said, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, ... till you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." A familiar setting and common threads of family life, community, church and baseball made "A Painted House" an ideal read to begin our efforts at organizing a citywide literacy focus.

Selected as Cape Girardeau's first citywide reading project, the reasons included the regional connection, the multigenerational readability and interest level and the hope that it would provide a springboard for thematic discussions of dreams, secrets and responsibilities. Our hope was that as people shared their thoughts about the book, things that mattered most to them -- life-and-death issues, questions of morality and belief, relationships within a family and the responsibilities of individuals -- would be considered.

Our hopes were realized as hundreds of readers shared their perspectives of the book based on their experiences. We have been richly blessed.

3. Cape Girardeau: United We Read was a multimedia, multigenerational series of events. Following a newspaper article and editorial supportive of our literary focus, 500 copes of Chapter 1 of "A Painted House" by John Grisham were mailed to local offices and businesses. Fifty-five copies of the novel were in circulation at our public library, and all school libraries had at least one copy. On the Central High School library's Web site were a discussion calendar, readers' comments and pictures from the discussions. With just a click, Web site visitors could hear Dick Estell of NPR read "A Painted House" or could visit Black Oak, Ark., the setting of the novel.

Thirty-two discussions were held in February, and others are scheduled for March and April as private clubs and organizations carry the banner of literacy promotion. Many individuals have volunteered to lead discussions.

Others volunteered to read chapters for airing on the public-access cable-TV channel, Channel 5, from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through early May. We are grateful for this involvement and for Randie McWilson, who did all the videotaping of these chapters at the TV studio in the Career and Technology Center.

The Girl Scouts, United Way, Cape Girardeau Public Library and Southeast Missouri State University all had special events during the month.

Students, staff members and parents were invited to tea parties at various schools or for "Grisham, Grahams and Hot Chocolate."

A guest from the Black Oak area gave a presentation on cotton picking at Central High School. And several tasting parties of Southern cuisine were held as guests discussed "A Painted House."

We share portions of the book at the CHS swimming pool and at Schnucks as well as in churches and restaurants.

Cape Girardeau became "A Painted House" country.

We received grants from the YELL Foundation and from the Missouri Department of Education's Community Counts program funded by Firstar. Surveys that were filled out by readers will be used in a drawing for door prizes purchased, in part, from this funding.

The public library, Vision 2020 and the Cape Girardeau School District were instrumental in providing both money and expertise in this literacy focus for our city. Indeed, interest was high in both the private and public sectors of Cape Girardeau, because we know that reading is essential not only for our young men and women in school, but for their parents as well.

Perhaps the biggest debt of gratitude is owed the Southeast Missourian for the exceptional coverage and support it gave to this project. Each day, the discussion location was listed on Page 2, and patrons have remarked that this service prompted them to attend a discussion or to watch Channel 5 for the readings. Joe Sullivan and Sam Blackwell encouraged us as they informed their readers of the project and its significance.

In reflection, we must say that we were overwhelmed by the participation, support and enthusiasm for this monthlong project. Some simple examples:

We thought that if we could have four people at each discussion, we would be successful. The average number attending the discussions has been 14 people.

Would volunteers step forward to help? Yes. And many have already asked to be included in the next citywide reading planning sessions.

An interesting phenomenon was that some folks attended multiple discussion groups. Others brought props like cotton sacks, scales, pictures and cotton to discussions. And other people talked enthusiastically in grocery stores, at the mall, at their churches or over lunches with co-workers.

Often when one has a dream and it is realized, there is a feeling of success. But this time the realization was far more than the dream. The overflowing volunteerism, enthusiasm and just plain enjoyment made this a blessing.

Thank you, Cape Girardeau, for making literacy a priority and this February (One City, One Book, One Month) a success.

Julia Howes Jorgensen is the librarian at Central High School and one of the organizers of Cape Girardeau: United We Read.