The Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library is celebrating today’s release of Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” the “To Kill A Mockingbird” sequel, by launching a new community reading program.
Renita Barksdale, library director, hopes the new program called “One Community, One Book” will get library patrons on the same page. The program’s slogan is, “Let’s read together.” In honor of the sequel’s release, the first official book of the program will be “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
“It’s just a great read,” she said. “It’s a classic. This is just a great book to launch the program with.”
With much attention surrounding the “To Kill A Mockingbird” sequel, Barksdale wants to see the program and subsequently the library garner the same public interest.
“We want as many people in the community as possible to read the first book,” Barksdale said. “Then we want them to come back to talk about the book. We’ll talk about what we don’t like about it and what we do like about it.”
The program will operate much like a book club, she said. Barksdale will give the community time to read the book and then announce a day for everyone to meet for discussion. She hopes to hold the “To Kill A Mockingbird” community discussion sometime in late August.
“We will put something up on Facebook to let the public know,” she said. “Everyone is going to have different viewpoints. It will be interesting to hear what people in the community have to say.”
In order to get the book in as many hands as possible, free copies of “To Kill A Mockingbird” will be made available at the library.
The library also already has plans to do this program annually, but next year they hope to have a “home grown” focus, Barksdale said.
“Next year, we will probably do something else like this, but maybe we will find a local author instead,” she said. “We just want this community to love on each other and the library.”
Although she is unsure when, Barksdale expects the library to eventually acquire some copies of the sequel. In the mean time, people who haven’t taken time to read it can catch up through the program.
“The original was published in 1960,” she said. “It is rare to have a sequel to a classic come out. We’re so excited to have a part two. We can’t wait to find out what happens.”