The BIG Read: The Call of the Wild

The King County Library System is one of 208 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read. This initiative, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, is designed to bring people from different generations and backgrounds together to read and discuss literature.

The Big Read provides participants the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their community. By 2009, the NEA will have funded more than 500 Big Read projects in the nation's towns and cities. Each community's Big Read includes a kick-off event, other events using the book as a point of departure, and book discussions in diverse locations aimed at a wide range of audiences.

KCLS Featured BIG Read
The KCLS featured book is The Call of the Wild by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a domesticated and even somewhat pampered dog named Buck. However, after Buck is abducted and sold as a sled dog, his primordial instincts return after working in the treacherous, frigid Yukon during the days of the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush.

Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is one of London's most-read books, and it is generally considered one of his best. One of the interesting things about this book is that the story is told from the dog’s point of view.

For more KCLS info, see The Big Read.