Community Reads: Wabasha Reads 2018
The Wabasha Reads program for 2018 included distribution during March of paperback copies of Kent Nerburn's book "Neither Wolf Nor Dog." Copies were available at local businesses including: Kwik Trip, Scheel's Super Valu, Eagles Nest Coffee Shop, Hill's Hardware, Wabasha Dentistry, Perry Dental and the River Nest Bed and Breakfast. An author's visit took place on Thursday morning, April 12th. A viewing of the movie "Neither Wolf Nor Dog" took place on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m.
116 participated
Our targeted audience will be young adults and adults. Kent Nerburn's book will introduce and emphasize the Native American culture to the Wabasha and surrounding communities. Neither Wolf nor Dog tells the story of two men one white and one Indian and their struggles to understand each other. The book and presentation will perhaps change our communities' perception of the Native American way of life and hopefully better understand the differences.
By providing the opportunity for people to read the book, attend the author presentation, and or attend the movie showing, the community will have several opportunities to witness the cultural differences expressed in Kent's writing.
We will use a survey to assess the outcomes.
The feedback from the author presentation was very positive. Some of the comments included: informative, they liked the author's honesty in sharing his life experiences, interesting, the program was available in their community, the attendance was great, and one person commented on Kent's "beautiful spirit".
Ways to improve included: time limit, improve microphone - hard to hear at times
Movie comments included: they liked the book better - more details, great idea and will absolutely attend another book to movie event, most attendees had read the book before the movie, they thought the movie was well done and followed the book closely.
Ways to improve movie: I had technical problems so it was a little delayed
After reading the book and hearing Kent speak, people commented on the new knowledge or insights they have received about the Native American Culture. The experiences definitely exposed the audience to witness the cultural differences expressed in his writing.
Question 1 - Rate overall quality of program - 11rated it 5, 5 rated it 4 with an average of 4.69.
Question 2 - The program was a positive learning/entertaining experience - 10 rated it 5, 6 rated it 4 with an average of 4.63
Question 3 - The program enhanced my knowledge of today's topic - 12 rated it 5, 2 rated it 4, 2 rated it 3 with an average of 4.63
Question 4 - Do you think of the library as a place to experience cultural programming? - 14 rated it 5, 2 rated it 4 with an average of 4.88
I think the attendance numbers and the positive ratings definitely suggest the events were a success.
A few people commented "you have to relearn history after reading Kent's book".
SELCO, Wabasha Public Library, National Eagle Center, Friends of the Wabasha Public Library, Plainview Public Library, Pine Island Public Library, Lake City Public Library