Day: April 19, 2005

Now I have a better fix on what they’ve been doing here.

WOW.

The community of Appleton, WI has set the gold standard for a “one book, one community” program. As I learn more and more about it, I am absolutely flabbergasted. They took SPEAK and decided that they wanted everybody to read it. Everybody. The program was spearheaded by the library (of course!). They got the Mayor on board, the police department, the schools, the education foundation. Book clubs read the book. Senior citizens in nursing homes read the book. Countless teens and parents read it. People talked about it in church groups. In car pools. Over coffee. Tee-shirts and lawn signs (lawn signs!) were made promoting the project. Everyone wore buttons. There was a billboard. Strangers talked to each other about it in grocery stores and in lines at the bank.

Is this just about the coolest thing that has happened to me? Yep, you betcha.

But this is way, way, way larger than SPEAK. To me, the real significance of all of this is that in America, in 2005, a Mid-Western community came together – all ages, all facets of society – to talk about a contemporary YA story. I think this is so, so, so amazing.

*pauses for stunned contemplation*

My role here is a minor one, but I’m having a blast. Visited Einstein Middle School this morning

and Appleton East High School this afternoon. These are random East students, dressed sort of… I wasn’t quite sure what they were dressed as… but they looked good. All the kids there were fun.

Tomorrow is set up the same way: Little Chute and Madison Middle Schools in the day, another community presentation at the Appleton Public Library at 7pm.

*goes back to Awe of Appleton*

Just imagine what the world would be like if people in all communities talked about books all the time….

So why am I here? Because the good people of Appleton, WI turned SPEAK into a community project. *blush* This morning I am speaking at Einstein Middle School, this afternoon I’ll be at Appleton East High School. I’m giving a public presentation tonight at the Appleton Public Library from 7 – 8:45 pm.

Yesterday was a long day. It took 11 hours to get from my apartment in PA to the hotel here, but that’s because I had a wicked long layover in Minneapolis. If you have to have a layover, that’s the place to do it. It is fairly peaceful (as airports go) and has a very nice bookstore if you “happen” to finish reading all of the books in your backpack. Stuck in an airport and forced to buy a book. Tough life.

The best quote of the day came from one of the Northwest Air stewards. At the beginning of our flight from Philly, it was announced that meals were available for purchase. The two guys on the other side of the aisle were excited about this – they were hungry. So the steward comes through the cabin, offering his goodies for sale. The “meal” cost $3.50. It contained some cookies, crackers and artificial processed cheese food, and a stick of beef product and chemicals.

“Where’s the meal?” asked the hungry flyers.

“This is it,” answered the steward, with a sigh.

“But we want sandwiches.”

“To get sandwiches you have to fly to Hawaii.” (that’s the best quote IMHO).

The guys bought the snack box. Good thing they did because when the free soda came around, it was not accompanied by itty-bitty bags of pretzels or nuts. I would like to point out (in defense of Northwest Air) that we were not charged for napkins. And while the seat had the comfort level of a wooden bench, the landing was incredibly smooth, and I give out lots of bonus points for that.

Time to go. More sights and sounds of Appleton later.