RIDGEFIELD’S THE BIG READ events • exhibits • concerts • lectures • book discussions • films AT THE RIDGEFIELD AT The RIDGEFIELD Little Read Book Discussion: A Year In & Around Down Yonder by Richard Peck PLAYHOUSE LIBRARY Wednesday, October 20, 6pm Ridgefield Multi-Media Presentation: Exhibit: Posters of American Social Reading is a Family Affair program orf children in Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra Woody Guthrie - Hard Realism & the Great Depression grades 3 & up with adult. Sign up in Children's Services. Concert: including Aaron Copland’s Made Possible by the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. Times & Hard Travellin’ September 3 – 30 “Variations on a Shaker Melody” Thursday, September 30 Lecture: Steinbeck & The Grapes of Book Discussion: THE GRAPES OF WRATH Saturday, October 2, 8pm 7:30pm Wrath with Dr. Mark Schenker Thursday, October 21, 7pm Anne S. Richardson Auditorium, Ridgefield Will Kaufman’s “Woody Wednesday, September 22, 7pm Hosted by the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. High School. Visit ridgefieldsymphony.org for tickets. Guthrie - Hard Times and Registration requested. Registration requested. Lecture: Steinbeck’s America: The Hard Travellin” is a “live Film Screening & Discussion: OF Film Screening & Panel Discussion: documentary” that sets the DIRT! THE MOVIE Economics of the Great Depression songs of Woody Guthrie in MICE AND MEN with Mark Edwards with Dr. Nick Perna Saturday, September 25, 10am Wednesday, October 27, 7pm the context of the American 1930s -- the Dust Sponsored by RACE and the Ridgefield Green Thursday, October 7, 7:30pm Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state Exhibit: Banned Books Week Celebration Village Initiative. Ridgefield Community Center of popular music itself. Live music is performed of The Grapes of Wrath Sponsored by Books on the Common & The by Will Kaufman while a documentary film plays, Visit ridgefieldlibrary.org for September 25 - October 2 Ridgefield Community Center/Lounsbury House. creating the perfect backdrop to convey the feeling more info on The Big Read of what life was like during John Steinbeck’s The Book Discussion: Controversy & The Book Discussion: THE GRAPES OF Grapes of Wrath. Grapes of Wrath Participating Book WRATH For tickets call the box office at 203-438-5795 or buy Wednesday, September 29, 7pm. Discussion Groups Thursday, October 14, 2:30pm tickets online at www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org. Registration requested. • Barlow Mountain Book Club Founders Hall. Open to all members of Founders Hall. presented by the ridgefield playhouse & • Brady Book Group (mother/son discussion group) the acoustic celebration. Book Discussion: Meltdown: THE • The Circle of Friends Exhibit: America (Continued) by A portion of the proceeds will go to the Woody Guthrie Foundation. END OF THE AGE OF GREED by Paul Mason Tuesday, October 5, 7pm • Daybreak Boys (mother/son discussion group) photojournalist John Shearer A Nonfictioneers book discussion. No registration required. • Founders Hall Through January 2, 2011 Film Screening: The Grapes of • Friends of the Ridgefield Library Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Family Concert: Roots of Country Wrath • Girls of Summer Book Club Music with Richard Stillman Ridgefield Middle & High Schools Thursday, October 28, 7:30pm • The Nonfictioneers(Ridgefield Library) The classic 1940 film version of the novel, directed Monday, October 11, 2pm • Reading Is a Family Affair(Ridgefield Library Book discussions, research projects and other by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Tom For children and families. No registration required. parent/child discussion series) classroom and extracurricular activities for young adults. Joad. Ford received an Academy Award for One Man Show: JOHN STEINBECK • Ridgefield Crossings his direction, as did Jane Darwell for her Best with Actor/Scholar Michael Oakes • Ridgefield Library Staff & Board of Directors Supporting Actress role as Ma Joad. You’ve read the One-Man Show: JOHN STEINBECK Tuesday, October 19, 7pm. Registration requested. • Ridgefield Newcomers book - now see the movie! Admission is $5.00 for with Actor/Scholar Michael Oakes • Street Talkers Book Club adults/seniors; students admitted free of charge. Book Discussion: THE GRAPES OF WRATH October 19 • Van Wees Book Club Wednesday, October 20, 10am East Ridge Middle School Visit ridgefieldlibrary.org for For Members of the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. Call the Library at 203/438-2282 x1009 Sponsored by Productions for Young People. more info on The Big Read. Registration requested. to add your book group to this list.

t h e b i g r e a d i s a p r o g r a m o f t h e n a t i o n a l e n d o w m e n t f o r t h e a r t s i n partnership w i t h t h e i n s t i t u t e o f m u s e u m a n d l i b r a r y s e r v i c e s a n d a r t s m i d w e s t . the big read Join the big Read the big read Get Ready Ridgefield! he Big Read is a program of the National PLAN AHEAD! presented it’s time for ... Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize Sign up at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org for our special by the role of literary reading in American Big Read email newsletter to get all the latest updates popularT culture. The Big Read brings communities on this exciting community reading project. together to read, discuss, and celebrate books and the big writers from American and world literature. READ! A great book combines enlightenment with Copies of The Grapes of Wrath are available for loan enchantment. It awakens our imagination and enlarges at the Library or for purchase at a 20% discount at Books on the Common. The book is also available our humanity. It can even offer harrowing insights that at the Library on audiocassette, CD and Playaway somehow console and comfort us. Whether you’re and can be found for download as an e-book at a regular reader already or making up for lost time, several sites. read thank you for joining The Big Read. Sponsors r i d g e f i e l d r e a d s DISCUSS! National Endowment for the Arts Sign up for one of numerous book discussions Friends of the Ridgefield Library taking place around town or register your book Wadsworth Russell Lewis Fund The Grapes of Wrath group to participate. Contact Karen Kazzi at the Books on the Common by John Steinbeck Library at 203-438-2282 x1011 to receive a special book group kit. media sponsors i95 FM, 98Q, WLAD, Oldies 850 LEARN! 95.9 The Fox, 96.7 The Coast, Pick up a copy today Find out more about the book, the author and the Hearst CT Media, The Ridgefield Press, & join the fun! the grapes of times at one of many scheduled lectures, exhibits Morris Media Group, Ridgefield Patch, Ridgefield Talk of Our Town –ridgefieldctblog.com Wrath and other educational programs. You can also explore many related print and online resources. Community Partners ohn Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is not The Acoustic Celebration merely a great American novel. It is also a ENJOY! J The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum significant event in our national history. Capturing The Big Read is not just about books! Don’t miss related music, art and other cultural programs, Books on the Common the plight of millions of Americans whose lives David Pollack Vintage Posters including the special presentation of Woody had been crushed by the Dust Bowl and the Great Founders Hall Depression, Steinbeck awakened the nation’s Guthrie: Hard Time and Hard Travellin’ with Friends of the Ridgefield Library comprehension and compassion. Will Kaufman on September 30th at the Ridgfield League of Women Voters Written in a style of peculiarly democratic majesty, Playhouse. Productions for Young People The Grapes of Wrath evokes quintessentially Ridgefield Action Committee for the Environment American themes of hard work, self-determination, SHARE! Ridgefield Arts Council and reasoned dissent. It speaks from assumptions Inspired by Tom Joad’s famous speech at the end of Ridgefield Community Center/Lounsbury House common to most Americans whether their the novel, we will be collecting non-perishable food Ridgefield Crossings ancestors came over on the Mayflower, in steerage, items at many Big Read events, for donation to the Ridgefield Green Village Initiative Ridgefield Library or in a truck. Ridgefield Food Pantry. read The Ridgefield Playhouse Ridgefield Public Schools Visit ridgefieldlibrary.org for more info on The Big Read Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra