The month-long celebration of literacy kicked off last week with Daniel Schafer, author of "Thunder on the River," and continued over this past weekend with Joe Vetter, a Stephen Crane re-enactor.
Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" is the book chosen by the Friends of the Library of Flagler County to celebrate Flagler Reads Together.
Library Director Holly Albanese said the Friends organization deserves credit for all the work they do to pull together the Flagler Reads Together events.
"There's a huge process that goes into considering what book they're going to have the community read," Albanese said.
Crane's novel of the Civil War was chosen to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of that conflict.
While there are many different programs available at the library -- from movies to arts and crafts and entertainment -- an event that focuses squarely on reading is a special one for library staff.
"Literacy is one of the biggest things librarians are concerned with," Albanese said. "People forget we are educators, as well."
Asked what she would say to those who would forgo reading "The Red Badge of Courage" in favor of watching the Hollywood film version, Albanese suggested people take advantage of a different form of technology.
"Instead of watching the movie, why not read the e-book?" she said.
Albanese said there are a variety of places readers can get a free download of the novel, including a link from the library's website at flaglerlibrary.org.
Albanese said this year's Flagler Reads Together is a "very special one for us" because it focuses on such an important topic in American history.
"There is a lot to learn that people aren't aware of" about the Civil War, she said.
As part of the month-long event, the library has a traveling exhibit from the Orange County Regional History Center called "Florida in the Civil War" through April 2. The exhibit includes interactive decision panels, a uniform try-on area and several cases of artifacts and documents related to the Civil War.
"It's a wonderful exhibit and it's great for support for what we're doing," Albanese said.
Albanese said choosing such an important historical topic provides a deeper understanding of the Civil War beyond what many children get in school.
"Science and math are a big push and somehow I think history gets left behind," she said.
Albanese said response for the two programs held so far has been "fantastic" and both events had a full house. In fact, for one of the programs she said people were slightly upset that something else was also scheduled for the same time and they had to choose which event to attend.
"That's a really nice problem to have that you have too much for people to choose," she said.
For more information about Flagler Reads Together, go online to flaglerlibrary.org or email fcfriends 123@yahool.com
No comments:
Post a Comment