A group of local Rotarians was transported to the county jail Wednesday morning.
Before the rumors begin to fly, the trip didn't end with the community leaders serving hard time; the visit allowed them to serve those on both sides of the bars.
Wearing "Rotarians at Work" vests, Rotarians delivered World Book Night books to inmates and employees of the jail, hoping to pass on a passion for reading and maybe improve the recidivism rate. It's believed that incarcerated individuals who read are less likely to be repeat offenders once released. Obviously, that's a benefit to both the inmate and society as a whole.
While some Rotarians chose to hand out their selected books at the jail, others brought them to the local schools, senior citizens or casual readers they know. I took my box of books to my wife's Blytheville High School history class, and "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell was well-received by the students.
The goal of the project is to generate a passion for reading on Shakespeare's birthday; World Book Night is held every April 23 for that purpose. All across America, some half a million books were given away to light and non-readers by volunteers. The authors waive their royalties and the publishers agree to pay the costs of producing the specially-printed World Book Night editions, which is quite generous on their parts.
There were a wide variety of titles distributed, from "100 Best-Loved Poems" edited by Philip Smith, to "After the Funeral" by Agatha Christie, and "The Dog Stars" by Peter Heller. I think there were around 38 different books that givers could select, and they gave away 20 of the particular title they chose. It's pretty incredible that so many books were distributed at no cost to the reader on the same day, and several local community members were a part of the effort.
Participating in World Book Night is an excellent way to share a love of books in an area that, frankly, has a literacy issue.
In fact, the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy shows that 18 percent of Mississippi Countian adults lack basic prose literacy skills and 14 percent of Arkansans 18 and over lack those same skills. According to Denise Hester of the Mississippi County Literacy Council, 27 percent of adults in the county are functionally illiterate, meaning they read at or below a fourth-grade level.
Those are sobering statistics.
In recent years, the Blytheville Rotary Club has been one of the local organizations trying to improve literacy in our area.
Not only does the club participate in World Book Night, it has handed out dictionaries/thesauruses to local elementary students for the last several years. This year, Rotarians brought copies of "The Black Stallion" to Gosnell fifth-graders and many in the civic club are involved with other programs promoting literacy, i.e. Books from Jan (the local Dolly Parton Imagination Library program) and Bookin' With the Chamber.
Improving literacy is desperately needed here so hat's off to all working to make progress in that area.
The ability to read and write well opens doors that would otherwise be shut.
Undoubtedly, there are bright individuals' whose lives could be greatly improved with those skills.
Fortunately, it's never too late to develop a love of reading.
Projects such as World Book Night can be a starting point for non-readers to turn into well-read individuals.
They can spark a fire and introduce non-readers to a whole new world.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com