National Endowment for the Humanities grant!

The Greenfield Middle School Library is one of 3,000 libraries across the country selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to receive free hardcover books on the theme of “Created Equal.”

The award is part of the NEH’s We the People initiative, which supports projects that strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. Selected public and school libraries in all 50 states each will receive a set of the 21 books (including Spanish translations of four of the titles), posters, bookmarks, bookplates from the NEH and the ALA, “History in a Box” resource materials on Abraham Lincoln from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and access to online planning and promotional materials.

The We the People Bookshelf on “Created Equal” contains the following books:
· “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Anderson, “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln, and “Pink and Say” by Patricia Polacco.
· “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, and “Lyddie” by Katherine Paterson.
· “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, and “Breaking Through” by Francisco Jiménez.
· “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, “Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography” by William Lee Miller, and “Amistad: A Novel” by David Pesci.

“One of the best ways to get students to understand history is through the reading of excellent historical fiction and non-fiction,” said 8th grade teacher Denise Petrin. “Good books, like Lyddie and Lincoln: A Photobiography make history something students can relate to and are a great way to teach the many stories in history.”

For more information about the We the People Bookshelf grant contact Robin Shtulman at 413-772-1360, ext. 221. For more information about the We the People Bookshelf project, please visit http://publicprograms.ala.org/bookshelf.