The Big Read Book Resources

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts selects one book to promote literacy across our nation. In their own words,

"The Big Read aims to address this crisis squarely and effectively. It provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities."

Through The Big Read, communities may apply for grants to host events connected to the year's book. But the biggest draw perhaps is this: even if there are no events in your area, The Big Read provides (free!) online access to some fantastic resources for both current and past books. These books include both classics and modern literature, so if you are looking for some new resources, you may want to check out their website. The books currently include:

• Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The by Mark Twain
• Age of Innocence, The by Edith Wharton
• Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, The by Dinaw Mengestu
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
• Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town, The by Thornton Wilder
• Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat New for 2015
• Call of the Wild, The by Jack London
• Death of Ivan Ilyich, The by Leo Tolstoy
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Farewell to Arms, A by Ernest Hemingway
• Grapes of Wrath, The by John Steinbeck
• Great Gatsby, The by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The by Carson McCullers
• Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
• In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
• Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
• Joy Luck Club, The by Amy Tan
• Lesson Before Dying, A by Ernest J. Gaines
• Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
• Maltese Falcon, The by Dashiell Hammett
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• Namesake, The by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Old School by Tobias Wolff
• Poetry of Emily Dickinson, The
• Poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The
• Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, The
• Shawl, The by Cynthia Ozick
• Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The
• Sun, Stone, and Shadows edited by Jorge F. Hernandez
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Thief and the Dogs, The by Naguib Mahfouz
• Things They Carried, The by Tim O'Brien
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• True Grit by Charles Portis
• Washington Square by Henry James
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• Wizard of Earthsea, A by Ursula K. Le. Guin

The Big Read offers a variety of resources for each book, including a Reader's Guide, a Teacher's Guide, and a Media/Audio Guide. Within those guides, you gain access to resources related to the book's author, content, and historical and literary contexts. There are also lesson plans, discussion questions, and project ideas. If you happen to teach one of the above authors but not that particular book, the resources may still be worth checking out.