The community is pulling together to focus on the importance of reading by bringing a One Book, One Campus, One Community Read to Paducah.
According to the Library of Congress, "One Book" projects (community-wide reading programs) were first initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998. The project encourages the city and college community to read the same book and come together to discuss it in a variety of settings.
In Paducah, West Kentucky Community & Technical College has partnered with the Challenger Learning Center, McCracken County Public Library, the McCracken County Information Network (McNet), Barnes & Noble Bookstores, Maiden Alley Cinema, and the McCracken County and Paducah public school districts to implement the project, selecting Rocket Boys by famed author Homer H. Hickam, Jr. as the project’s first read.
“We are extremely happy to participate in this One Book project,” said Gail Robinson-Butler, co-chair of the planning committee and director of WKCTC’s Clemens Fine Arts Theatre. “Reading is important to everything we do in society and we all need to encourage each other to pick up a book and read.”
According to the 2003 Kentucky State Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 11 percent of Kentucky adults are proficient in prose literacy. In the 2004 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census, Kentucky ranked 50th out of 51 states and districts in the percentage of adults over 25 with a high school diploma or GED, and 48th in the percentage of adults with baccalaureate degree or higher.
WKCTC has focused on the importance of reading as part of its Quality Enhancement Plan.
Organizers are encouraging individuals to read Rocket Boys now, so they will enjoy even more events planned for later in the year in celebration of the One Book, One Campus, One Community Project.
Published by Delacorte Press in 1998, Rocket Boys: A Memoir is the story of Homer Hickam’s life in small town of Coalwood, West Virginia. It became an instant classic when first published and has been translated into eight languages and released as an abridged audio book and electronic book. The book was later produced as the movie, October Sky, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Dern.
In addition to showing a young people’s interest in space travel and rockets, the book touches on the world of coal mining in West Virginia. The One Book project will encourage not only the reading of the book but initiate discussions about the book, the coal mining industry’s impact on communities, and growing up in the 1950’s. |
