The Big Read Film Festival

What’s black and white and read all over?

Hmmm. Some jokes just don’t transition well from the spoken word to the written word.

In the same way, some experiences aren’t easy to express in written words or even in spoken words. Sometimes a picture is better.

The Big Read Film Festival is a chance for filmmakers to participate in the community-wide discussion about To Kill a Mockingbird and show us a different perspective.

You can make a supershort movie based on the themes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Here’s how to do it:

1. Register at the DeKalb Public Library — it’s free to register, but you do have to get the informational packet — beginning on Wednesday, October 1st at 9:00am (library closes at 9:00pm).
2. Following the guidelines in the packet, make your movie.  Make it big, make it small, show us what you can do — the biggest requirement is that the movie stay under 2 minutes.
3. Turn in your film absolutely no later than 5:00pm on Friday, October 17th.
4. Come to the viewing on Sunday, October 19th at 2:00pm at the DeKalb High School Auditorium.  Cheer on your video or those of your friends.  Participate in a discussion.  Feel all literary.

If you’ve got something to say with video, we want to hear it!

Dressing Up For The Big Read

The DeKalb Public Library is dressed up for The Big Read!

Pick up your free copy of To Kill a Mockingbird at any of our upcoming events. We’ll kick things off with a big first week, including two Readers’ Theater interpretations of the book’s trial scene, two showings of the film, a book discussion for teens, and our keynote address by Charles Shields, biographer of Harper Lee and author of Mockingbird.

Are you interested in hosting your own book discussion? Let us know and we’ll provide you with books for your group! Stop in the library and ask for Dee or Kathy.

Check out our circulating copies!

In addition to the 5,000 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird that we’re giving away this year for The Big Read, we also have many copies of the book and the movie available for checkout at the DeKalb Public Library!

We have 100 copies of the English-language book, 5 copies of the Spanish-language book, and 40 copies of the DVD version of the 1962 black-and-white film “To Kill a Mockingbird.” These are our circulating copies — you can check them out from the library.

100 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird

Don’t forget that you can pick up one of the 5,000 English-language FREE copies or one of the 500 Spanish-language FREE copies at any of our upcoming Big Read Events!

Book Discussions – DIY and ReadyMade!

This Big Read is bigger than our last one. Definitely bigger. By a lot.

Last year we gave away 1,000 free books to the community. This year it’s 5,000 free books.

Last year we received a grant of $5,000 from the National Endownment for the Arts that we had to match with community contributions. This year it’s $20,000 – and it’s a matching grant. We’re doing pretty well with raising the matching $20,000, but if you, your company or your organization would like to donate to The Big Read in DeKalb County, improve literacy in your community, and get your name on our sponsors page, please contact Dee or Kathy at the DeKalb Public Library (815-756-9568).

And have you seen our events page?

We’ve got tons of events this year, and we’re adding to them all the time! The paper events calendar has gone to the printers already (and will be available this coming Thursday afternoon, October 18th), but you can always find the most current information on our events page.

Did you know that we have 11 book discussions scheduled right now, including one for young adult readers, one in Spanish, and one hosted by a knitting club that meets in a bar? And we’re ready to schedule more if you want them! If our book discussions don’t meet at a convenient time for you, or if you want to start a discussion group with just your friends, we can help you do that. We’ll give you FREE copies of the book for your group members and advertise your discussion time and place on our events page. If you don’t want the meeting publicized, we’ll put it up as “at a private home.” Just let us know.

The Big Read is all about literacy, of course, but part of that is sparking an interest that sparks a discussion that sparks a real sense of community. Just imagine what can spark from there!

Mock Trial, Real Lawyers

The Big Read in DeKalb County is going to start off with a bang!

On Monday, September 29th at 7:00pm the Big Read starts with a mock trial presented by members of the DeKalb County Bar Association at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. Courthouse doors open at 6:30pm with refreshments and FREE copies of the book available. Action starts at 7:00pm. The trial scene from To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most moving in the book and we are lucky to have the support and involvement of so many of our area lawyers & judges in bringing this scene to life.

Thank you to the Law Office of Richard H. Schmack, and particularly Jackie Schmack, for their help in organizing this exciting event!

Parents are encouraged to read the trial scene in the book for content before the event, as some material may not be suitable for all maturity levels.

5,000 FREE copies

The Big Read is coming! It’s only 3 weeks away now, the committee is working hard to finalize the details of our events (check out our Events Page!), and we’re busily distributing FREE copies of the Big Read book To Kill a Mockingbird to every student in the county that wants one.

After we make sure we’ve gotten the books out to the students, we will start giving FREE copies of the book to the general public! Starting on Monday, September 29th at our kickoff event, a mock trial based on the trial scene read by members of the DeKalb County Bar Association, we will welcome the citizens of DeKalb to get their FREE copy of the book at all our public Big Read Events! For more details about these events, check out our Events Page.

We’re so pleased to be able to offer FREE copies to so many members of the public this year! Last year we gave away 1,000 copies of our Big Read title; this year, because we won the full grant amount of $20,000 from the NEA, we are able to distribute five times as many books! The grant money has to be matched by community support — if you would like to be involved, to donate money, time, or materials to The Big Read in DeKalb County, contact Dee Coover or Kathy Keyes at the library today!

*DeKalb Public Library
309 Oak Street
DeKalb IL 60115
815-756-9568

Events Are Up!

Our tentative schedule of events is up at our Big Read Events page!  Make sure you check it often or subscribe to get the latest information as we update our events.

We’re getting closer to The Big Read – have you started reading yet?

Pat Conway (Altrusa International of DeKalb/Sycamore), Dana Gioia (chairman, National Endowment for the Arts), and Dee Coover (director, DeKalb Public Library) meet at the Big Read orientation seminar.