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Christopher Paul Curtis, author of "Bud, Not Buddy" |
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Christopher Paul Curtis, author of "Bud, Not Buddy" |
The Little Read is a joint project of the Lenoir-Rhyne College Visiting Writers Series: In Their Own Words, the Lenoir-Rhyne School of Education and the Hickory Public School System. It is a spin-off of The Big Read, a community-wide reading initiative for adults that began last year and continues this year under the leadership of Catawba Valley Community College.
The Little Read will involve approximately 600 fourth- and fifth-grade students in Hickory’s five elementary schools. They will be reading and studying the books of African-American author Christopher Paul Curtis. His book “Bud, Not Buddy” is the 2000 winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award given to books for young readers. The students will also read and discuss Curtis’s book “The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963.”
Curtis will speak at all five elementary schools March 21-23, 2007. He will also give a free, public reading at Lenoir-Rhyne College on March 24, 2007 at 2 p.m. in the P.E. Monroe Auditorium.
The Hickory Public Schools and L-R’s School of Education will work together to incorporate Curtis’s work into their curriculum and plan related activities. Approximately 50 L-R education professors and students will be involved. The Little Read is made possible with a gift from the Ron and Sandra Deal family in memory of their daughter, Sara Catherine Deal Temple. For more information about The Little Read, contact Dr. Rand Brandes, Martin Luther Stevens Professor of English, at 828-328-7207 or brandes@lrc.edu , or go to the Web site www.thelittleread.net . Updates on the program will be posted there periodically.