CHARIHO REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER

Chariho Reads: The Memory of Running

ONE BOOK – ONE COMMUNITY – LITERALLY

2007

The Chariho Reads intergenerational reading project will commence this February as the community will be invited to read, The Memory of Running by former East Providence resident, Ron McLarty. Patrons of Chariho’s local public libraries, along with Chariho School district students, faculty, staff and parents, will be invited to read this book and participate in at least one book discussion event by May 6, 2007.

The Chariho Regional High School Library will organize the CCEP grant project. The grant allows the library to purchase over eighty copies of the book to give to members of the community as long as they commit to participating in a book discussion event. Book discussions will be held at all participating public libraries and at the high school media center at times to be announced.

The Memory of Running is about the unexpected epic journey of Smithy Ide, an overweight, friendless, middle aged quality control toy inspector from Rhode Island. In one week he learns that his parents are killed in a car crash and his emotionally troubled, long-lost sister has died in California. As Smithy cleans out his parents’ garage, he finds his old Raleigh bicycle. Out of the blue, Smithy hops on his bicycle and begins a cross country journey to California that takes him through Hope Valley and right past Chariho High School. Readers will enjoy the hilarious, luminous, and extraordinary adventures of Smithy as he finds himself again in mid-life.

The Chariho Reads project runs in tandem with the Read Across Rhode Island (RARI) literacy project. The Chariho Reads Project, along with RARI, hope to shine a light on literacy and involve all Rhode Islanders in a community dialogue focusing on books and reading.