FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 08, 2003
Contact: Patricia Fraga, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442

Keep Austin Reading…
Gets Austin Residents Reading and Talking Together

Austin, Texas (April 8, 2003)—The second annual selection of the "Mayor's Book Club" was announced today at a press conference at the Austin History Center. The book selected by the community and the mayor for the “Keep Austin Reading” campaign is Louis Sachar’s, Holes. An award-winning novel, the book is based upon the journey of a young boy who is mistakenly sent to a detention camp in Texas where “rehabilitation” translates into digging holes. This year the Library and the mayor selected the book based on input from the community. In January, a selection committee was formed, which included educators, booksellers, librarians, and patrons of the branch libraries throughout the city. The committee narrowed down the list of books to three, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Holes by Louis Sachar. In February we asked the citizens of Austin to give us their opinion on which of these three books all of Austin should read as part of the citywide reading campaign. All of Austin was invited to make their selection at any of the city Library's 21 locations, at the Library's Telephone Information Center or on the Library's Web site. Holes by Louis Sachar was the most popular of the three. Mayor Gus Garcia and the Austin Public Library invite all of Austin to read this book. The book is available at all 21 library locations, as well as offered at area bookstores.

After a very successful first year the Library, in conjunction with the mayor’s office, will launch its second annual citywide campaign to develop a community experience through reading and discussion of a shared book. “I am happy to report that for a second year a partnership continues between the City of Austin and the University of Texas,” says Mayor Gus Garcia. The University of Texas Humanities Institute will work with the Austin Public Library to assist with discussion groups about Holes in the fall of 2003. A schedule of programs and events will be published in July.
Partners of the citywide reading program are the City of Austin, the University of Texas Humanities Institute, the Austin Public Library Foundation, H-E-B, FOX 7, Tokyo Electron America, Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, the Friends of the Austin Public Library, and area bookstores.

About the Author

Celebrated author Louis Sachar, winner of a National Book Award and the 1999 Newbery Medal for his novel Holes, is also recognized for his ever-popular story There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, his "Wayside School" series for middle graders, and his "Marvin Redpost" chapter books for younger readers. Sachar's trademark is a humorous and realistic portrayal and exploration of relationships and feelings; his story lines characteristically chart the efforts of his various characters to discover and then assert their young identities. Sachar's male and female protagonists struggle and learn to cope with the world—with not a little help from the funny bone—just as Sachar himself had to finally decide his own true professional identity: lawyer or writer? Source: Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 35. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center, one of Austin Public Library's reference databases.