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Press Releases

For Immediate Release:
April 8, 2008
 

Rep. Petri Announces We the People
 Bookshelf Awards to Local Libraries


“Created Equal” Features 17 Classic Books That Will Support Community Programs
 

Rep. Tom Petri today announced awards of 17 classic books on the theme of “Created Equal” to each of seven libraries in east-central Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District.  The awards were made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities’(NEH) We the People Bookshelf program.   

Receiving the books will be the Brownsville Public Library, the Fox Lake Public Library, the Horicon Public Library, the Hustisford Community Library, the Lomira Public Library, the Lakeview Community Library, and the Watertown Public Library. 

"We need to encourage our young people to take a greater interest in American history in general, and in the overarching themes of that history.  Literature can play an important part in getting children thinking about these issues," said Petri.   “‘Created Equal’ helps students to explore one of America’s greatest founding principles, and the books featured in this collection both address the concept of equality and recount the periods of our history which tested the declaration that ‘all men are created equal.’” 

“The We the People Bookshelf introduces young readers to important literature and promotes the understanding of vital ideas in our nation’s history,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. “Through the power of these stories millions of young readers will have the opportunity to examine the central tenet of our American identity: that all human beings ‘are created equal.’”

The We the People Bookshelf program will distribute 3000 sets of books to city, town, and neighborhood libraries as well as libraries in public, private, and charter schools and home school consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each library will receive a set of the 17 books along with posters, bookmarks, and other promotional materials from NEH through the American Library Association (ALA), which is working in partnership with the Endowment. As part of the awards, libraries are organizing programs or events to raise awareness of these classic books and engage young readers.

The books selected for the “Created Equal” Bookshelf include several on Abraham Lincoln to facilitate programming for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial over the next year.  These include a “History in a Box” collection of resource materials on Lincoln developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American history.

The We the People "Created Equal" Bookshelf contains the following books:

Kindergarten to Grade 3

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, illustrated by Michael McCurdy

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Pink y Say by Patricia Polacco (translated byAlejandra López Varela)

Grades 4 to 6

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Give Me Liberty!  The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman

Lincoln:  A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Many Thousand Gone:  African Americans from Slavery to Freedom by Virginia Hamilton

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson (translated by Rosa Benavides)

Grades 7 to 8

Saturnalia by Paul Fleishman

Freedom Walkers:  The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman

Abraham Lincoln the Writer:  A Treasury of His Greatest Speeches And Letters edited by Harold Holzer

Breaking Through by Francisco Jiménez

Senderos Fronterizos by  Francisco Jiménez (translated by Francisco Jiménez)

Grades 9 to 12

Abigail Adams:  Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober

That All People May Be One People, Send Rain to Wash the Face of the Earth by Nez Perce Chief Joseph

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Flores para Algernon  by Daniel Keyes (translated by Paz Barroso)

Lincoln’s Virtues:  An Ethical Biography by William Lee Miller

Amistad:  A Novel by David Pesci

The bookshelf program is part of the NEH’s We the People program, which supports projects that strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities.  NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities, its grant programs, and the We the People Bookshelf is available on the Internet at www.neh.gov