Add Cather's 'My Ántonia' to summer reading list

In human history, the written word has brought so much power and hope to individuals while bringing the world together to find commonality.

As we inch our way deeper into the 21st century, though, interest in books seems to be declining as electronic mass communication has evolved and given society other ways to find common ground.

At one time, the novel brought the underprivileged into the world of hope. Now, reading is becoming pastime of fewer people.

A recently released Associated Press-Ipsos poll revealed that 27 percent of the respondents had not read a single book in the past year.

I've read more than my share of non-fiction books in the past 12 months but have only read about two or three fiction books in the past 10 years.

Messenger Public Library Director G. Kevin Davis left a book, "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather, for me at the front desk last week as a challenge to read and I have taken that challenge.

Davis hopes that the rest of North Aurora and Aurora will also see the need to read and join the 2007 Fox Valley Reads initiative.

"My Ántonia" was written in 1918. It takes us back to the prairie days of the late 19th century in Nebraska with an orphan boy and his grandparents and their neighbors from Bohemia as they brave the dangers of the harsh winters and lonely days.

It makes me think about how my Slovakian grandparents must have felt when they settled in urban Chicago decades later, before building their farm out near Route 47 in the early 1940s.

Not only will readers experience the prairie days through the pages of this classic American book, but Messenger Public Library and Aurora and Oswego public libraries are offering real life experiences to go along with the book.

Free programs include a square dance, and American Girl Tea Party, pioneer games, programs on prairie ecology, immigration and visits with "Willa Cather" and "Laura Ingalls Wilder" character actors.

The Aurora area libraries received a National Endowment for the Arts grant of about $14,000 for its Big Read program, which provides program materials, book and discussion guides for participating local libraries.

The area libraries are joining 117 other communities around the nation reading and experiencing one of 12 Big Read book choices offered by the National Endowment for the Arts. Other communities are reading "The Joy Luck Club," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Great Gatsby" and "Fahrenheit 451" from the list provided by the NEA.

"The NEA initiated The Big Read to get public libraries more actively involved in the community and talking about reading and literature," said Messenger's Davis. "We want to gather people together to read and discuss literature again."

Davis said that the themes in the book conjure up prairie life and the American West and immigration. All the Aurora libraries will touch on these themes in programs throughout the month.

The Messenger Library's Friends group also chipped in by contributing $500 for the voices of immigration program held at the library on Oct. 4, Davis added.

Residents can check out the book at the local libraries, and if you're lucky maybe a few free copies will be available.

"It would be great if this program spurs on other smaller groups," Davis said. "Homeowner's associations and neighbors could all get together to read "My Ántonia and then get their families together and attend one of the events we are sponsoring."

While the book is more geared toward the teenage or adult readers, the libraries have planned a number of activities that will bring in the younger readers too.

Families are invited to attend the Community Square Dance event that kicks off Fox Valley Reads from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 15 at Marvel Davis Farm at 47W066 Jericho Road in Big Rock.

On Sept. 26 children from ages 8 to 11 are invited to Messenger to play pioneer games like Dominoes, Jack, Cat's Cradle and others. Everyone will receive a game to take home and instructions for more pioneer games played on the American prairie before radio and television.

Girls 8 and older are invited to an American Girl Tea and Fashion show Oct. 13 at Prisco Community Center in Aurora.

Nature lovers can attend programs about Great Plains wildflowers, or take a hike in a Yorkville forest preserve prairie or take a tour of the tallgrass prairie at Fermilab in Batavia.

Genealogists can learn about Czech/Slovak family research at a meeting in Oswego.

For additional information about Fox Valley Reads and The Big Read, call (630) 896-0240 or visit Messenger Public Library 113 Oak St. in North Aurora. Call the Aurora Library at (630) 264-4101 to reserve your space at Aurora programs.

Complete program information can also be found at www.foxvalleyreads.org. Information about the national program is at www.neabigread.org.

It shouldn't be too hard to encourage current book readers to pick up "My Ántonia" and read it this month.

I challenge the rest of you to join me in trying something different and reading "My Ántonia" and if you like it, try another book off the NEA list.

Fox Valley Reads

What is it: A program with the Messenger (North Aurora), Aurora and Oswego libraries to have everyone read the same book and participate in activities related to it

The book: "My Ántonia by Willa Cather. It is a fiction book that is set in the prairie days of the late 19th century in Nebraska.

Info: foxvalleyreads.org.