One Community Reads Bryson

In the Norwell (MA) Mariner of 9 May 2007 there's an article by Matt Dunning titled "Norwell Reads program highlights the great outdoors." It highlights the 'one book, one community' program in Norwell. Duplicated across the country, it involves getting lots of people in the community to read and discuss the same text in a relatively short period of time. Builds community. Builds literacy.

"Now in its third year, the Norwell Reads program has become something of a tradition. According to Jeanne Ryer, the featured tome in 2007 finds the town trading American history for nature’s majesty.

For this year’s Norwell Reads initiative, the program’s selection committee chose New Hampshire-based author Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods,” which chronicles Bryson’s trek from Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian Trail. According to Ryer — who in addition to coordinating the Norwell Reads program serves as the reference and adult librarian at the public library — upon returning to his native New Hampshire after living abroad for 20 years, Bryson wanted to reconnect with his homeland, thus his decision to walk the trail in its entirety."

For more information about the Norwell Reads Program, visit the public library’s Web site at www.norwellpubliclibrary.org, or call Jeanne Ryer at 781-659-2015.