Sheldon library among 500 to receive 'We the People' books

Friday, March 25, 2005

* Fifteen classic books about freedom will support community programs.

Nevada Daily Mail

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The National Endowment for the Humanities recently announced that it has awarded free copies of 15 classic books from the We the People Bookshelf, with four also offered in Spanish, to 500 school and local libraries throughout the country, including Sheldon High School and eight other locations in Missouri.

The theme of this year's bookshelf is freedom. As part of the award, libraries will hold programs or events to raise awareness of these classic books and engage young readers.

"Libraries serve as beacons of learning in schools and communities," said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. "The We the People Bookshelf enables younger readers to examine important themes from many perspectives. This year's bookshelf tells the stories of freedom sought, freedom denied, freedom lived."

In 2004, the first year of the We the People bookshelf, 1,000 libraries received books for young readers on the theme of "courage."

The new awards are part of the Endowment's We the People initiative, which supports projects that strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. The awards will go to neighborhood and public school libraries--as well as libraries at private schools, charter schools, and home school cooperatives--throughout the United States, each of which will receive a set of the 15 books, posters, bookmarks, and other promotional materials from NEH through the American Library Association, which is working in partnership with NEH. Later this year, an additional 500 libraries will be selected to receive the books.

The We the People bookshelf on freedom contains the following books: "Sam the Minuteman" by Nathaniel Benchley; "The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses" by Paul Goble; "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter; and "El Cuento de Pedrito Conega" by Beatrix Potter; "The House of Dies Drear" by Virginia Hamilton; "Ben and Me" by Robert Lawson; "To Be a Slave" by Julius Lester; "The Complete Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis; and "El Le--n, La Bruja & Ropero" by C.S. Lewis; "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury; Fahrenheit 451" (in Spanish) by Ray Bradbury; "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt; and "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare; and "Miracle at Philadelphia" by Catherine Drinker Bowen; "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather; "Mi Ántonia" by Willa Cather; "Animal Farm" and 1984 by George Orwell; and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

A complete list of the school and public libraries to receive the We the People Bookshelf on "freedom" can be found on the Internet at www.NEH.gov.

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