by Jen Reeder

Many people remember a book that made an impression on them when they were young. Goodnight Moon. Where the Wild Things Are. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Catcher in the Rye. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Then life gets busy, TV shows get addicting, and books fall by the wayside.

On April 23, World Book Night aims to change that. Across the United States, passionate readers will hand out copies of a book they love to “light or nonreaders” to try to ignite or reignite a love of reading. Half a million free books will be given away to strangers by 25,000 volunteers on April 23 (not coincidentally the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth and death). And so many people will distribute books in Durango that it is ranked in the top 25 communities for World Book Night involvement.

“We’re a community that loves books, and we’re a generous community, so this is a perfect fit for us,” says Libby Cowles, community relations manager at Maria’s Bookshop, a World Book Night distribution site. “It feels great to see people be so excited about literature that they want to share it with other people.”

Just the Facts What: World Book Night When: Mon., April 23 Where: In and around Durango

Cowles was one of four Maria’s employees who attended the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute this January in New Orleans. During the conference, they saw a video about the first-ever World Book Night in the United Kingdom in 2011 and learned that the event was coming to the U.S. in 2012. As soon as they returned to Durango, they sent an e-mail blast to their patrons with a link to the World Book Night website, encouraging those interested to look at the list of 30 books, choose a favorite, and apply to give 20 copies of it away. There’s no cost to be a book giver.

“It’s a great list,” Cowles says. “These are easy books to get excited about – a great variety.”

 

Book options range from young adult fiction like Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games – which was the first to be snapped up – to John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Carl Lennertz, executive director of World Book Night, says books were selected by a committee to showcase a diverse group of authors and subject matter in order to have the broadest appeal.

“Person to person is the key – local, local, local,” Lennertz says. “We’re covered from Kodiak, Alaska, to Key West, Fla. It covers the country like a blanket.”

Lennertz and a skeleton crew have been coordinating the U.S. World Book Night since last September. The passion for the concept shows in the amount of donations taking place: authors waive royalties, manufacturers donate paper and printing time, publishers kick in money to print special World Book Night editions, UPS donates the cost of shipping books to the libraries and bookstores, book distributor Ingram is handling all packing for shipping, and independent bookstores, libraries, and Barnes and Noble helped get the word out and act as pick-up locations.

“With reading, you can change a life,” Lennertz says. “It’s a way to introduce reading as part of your day.”

The book giver application required people to list their first three choices for books, why they wanted to give away their first choice, and where they would do so. Lennertz says locations fell into three categories: social service areas like hospitals, food pantries, women’s shelters and underfunded schools; public places like parks, malls and mass transit; and “fun” – bars, tattoo parlors and other unusual spots. For example, a limo driver in Minnesota plans to take his 20 books to work with him and hand them out to clients, and a surfer in California will paddle out with his books in plastic bags.

“I’ve only been surprised – in a good way – with the depths of passion,” Lennertz says.

He says there’s a direct correlation between the involvement of a community and the presence of independent bookstores (and praised the staff at Maria’s). While major population centers like Austin, Chicago, New York and Denver dominated the list of top 10 involved communities, Durango made the top 25 (with 26 givers), while Boulder ranked in the top 125 and Ft. Collins in the top 150. Lennertz says he’s not surprised that the biggest per capita showings tended to be in smaller towns.

“I think this is an ethos of do for your neighbor,” he says. “People know each other more, and therefore want to do more.”

Maria’s Bookshop hosted a party on April 16 for the book givers to collect their books and chat with one another about their book selection and where they’ll give them away. Gail Johnson will give copies of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to inmates at the La Plata County Jail. Angie Zbornik will hand out Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie at the Boys and Girls Club.

 

Kristen Chen will give Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls, a young adult novel about eating disorders, to mothers of girls at Park Elementary School.

“It’s the perfect way to get people to read a book because the best way is when you love a story and pass it on,” Chen says. “I think it’s great.”

Cindy Coleman plans to distribute Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible to the diverse group of “coworkers” at DurangoSpace.
“I think it’s going to be really fun,” Coleman says. “I hope that people get out there and take advantage of these books and read.”

Jeanne Costello, inventory manager at Maria’s Bookshop, says it is moving to witness people coming together to share and celebrate literature, both internationally and locally.

“It speaks to our community – we’re passionate about books,” she says. “I feel really proud of Durango.”