The Big Read folks in Kansas City are doing Tom Sawyer, too.  Also, someone has commissioned an original ballet based on the novel for the KC Ballet Company.  So it's a big deal here in Twain's home state.

I'll be giving a talk on Twain and the Philippines at the Central Library in KC on October 4.  --susan harris

Susan K. Harris

Hall Professor of American Literature

University of Kansas

Author of God's Arbiters: Americans and the Philippines, 1898-1902 (The War that Sparked Mark Twain's Conflict with America

________________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Warren Brown [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 6:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hirst and Mark Twain coming to Sacramento

The article is a bit confusing. The Big Read is a program operated by the N=
ational Endowment for the Humanities started in 2006, to answer a serious i=
ssue. Don't recall any mention to the NEH in the article, but perhaps, is d=
eserving of credit for the event. A worthy program. All programs which prom=
ote reading are worthy. Always glad to see a Mark Twain book is selected.=
=20

"The Big Read answers a big need. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Rea=
ding in America, a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, foun=
d that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all =
groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the =
young. The concerned citizen in search of good news about American literary=
 culture would study the pages of this report in vain."=20

Since The Big Read operated by the NEH was intended to address the specific=
 issue mentioned in the Reading at Risk survey, especially with young reade=
rs, the NEH selected four books per year, which they felt, addressed the is=
sue. I believe Tom Sawyer was selected in the second year of the program. H=
uckleberry Finn, is unquestionably, not a good selection for our youth, exc=
ept for Sam a.k.a. "Youth," affectionately nicknamed by Livy.=20

Sam would probably say, 'The reading of a single book by communities has be=
en occurring since the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, and I'm thinking ab=
out a rewrite ... and removing the word 'God.' (thanks for the U.K. "Victor=
ia" cartoon strip circulated several months ago).

read about The Big Read at the NEH website


Warren Brown



-----Original Message-----
From: Arianne <[log in to unmask]>
To: TWAIN-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Aug 30, 2011 3:17 pm
Subject: Hirst and Mark Twain coming to Sacramento


http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/29/3868153/tom-sawyer-is-next-big-read.html
I'm surprised Huckleberry Finn wasn't chosen.
Arianne Laidlaw