Huntington Libraries Beneficiaries of NEH Grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a grant of American classic books and materials to all eight libraries in the Huntington School District. The items have been delivered and are available for use by individual school librarians and students.
According to the NEH, “The We the People ‘Picturing America’ Bookshelf is the literary complement of NEH’s “Picturing America’ visual arts project. Instead of paint, marble, silver, or glass, words are the media used to portray significant themes in American history and culture. Readers are invited to steer their way across the continent by river with Lewis and Clark in 1802, travel the railroad with Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, or drive along the open highways with John Steinbeck and his dog Charley in 1960. Through the life and poetry of Walt Whitman emerge powerful images of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln; through the life and lens of Dorothea Lange we witness the impersonal forces and human faces of the Depression.”
Maryann Daly, Huntington’s SEARCH program chairperson-teacher, filed the winning grant application. The Huntington libraries are among 4,000 libraries to receive the items, which include 17 “classic hardcover books” for younger readers. Three other books are in Spanish translation and two additional ones are “books for readers of all ages.” There are also various materials for programming, bookplates, posters and bookmarks.
The books include:
Kindergarten to 3rd grade
• Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley
• Cosechando esperanza: La historia de César Chávez by Kathleen Krull (translated by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy)
• Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Sweet Music in Harlem by Debbie Taylor
4th to 6th grade
• The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
• American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne
• On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
• Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet
• The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe by Roland Smith
7th and 8th grade
• The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman
• La leyenda de Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (translated by Manuel Broncano)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
• Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
9th to 12th grade
• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
• Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange by Elizabeth Partridge
• Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
• Viajes con Charley - en busca de América by John Steinbeck (translated by José Manuel Alvarez Flórez)
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
Bonus books for readers of all ages:
• Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out by The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance
• 1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough
The “We the People” Bookshelf “identifies a theme important to the nation’s heritage and selects books that embody that theme,” according to the NEH. “This collection of theme-related books is the Bookshelf. In addition to introducing young readers to good literature, the Bookshelf promotes understanding of abstract or general ideas through the power of particular stories.”
Last month Mrs. Daly applied for the 2010 NEH book grant program, “The Perfect Union.” “They are beautiful books, with editions written in Spanish as well, and are free to our district,” Mrs. Daly said.
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