NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Mark Twain will be on hand this Sunday at the New Rochelle Public Library to help an anticipated audience of several hundred guests experience 1840’s St. Petersburg, Missouri, where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer took place. The classic novel is the title of New Rochelle’s 2015 Big Read, which will be officially launched at Sunday’s event. Throughout the afternoon, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm, children will have an opportunity to play a great array of 19th century games, including jacks, marbles, pick-up-sticks, sack races, and others, and create a miniature raft and picket fence. Mark Twain impersonator, Alan Kitty, will stroll the library to meet guests. Older children, teens and adults will enjoy the following presentations in the Ossie Davis Theater:
3:00 pm: A riveting keynote address by Cindy Lovell, Twain historian and Executive Director of the Mark Twain Museum in Hartford, CT, will reveal fascinating information about Twain and his now-classic novel.
3:45 pm: Alan Kitty, Mark Twain impersonator, will conduct a Q & A.
4:15 pm: A performance of scenes from the book by nine talented New Rochelle students from the Big Read Reader’s Theater Troupe.
WHAT: A family-friendly event that will encourage all ages to participate in the reading and activities surrounding New Rochelle’s 2015 Big Read of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
WHEN: Sunday, May 3, 2:00 – 6:00 pm.
WHERE: New Rochelle Public Library’s Ossie Davis Theater, Meeting Room and Lobby, and Library Green, between Lawton and Huguenot Streets, New Rochelle, NY, 10801.
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to revitalize the role of reading in American culture by exposing citizens to great works of literature and encouraging them to read for pleasure and enrichment. The Big Read is managed by Arts Midwest. New Rochelle is one of 77 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read from September 2014 – June 2015. New Rochelle’s 2015 Big Read receives additional support from NRPL Foundation, the Friends of NRPL, and the New Rochelle Downtown Business Improvement District (BID).
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Barbara Davis, NRPL Community Relations Coordinator at (914) 632-8254. A full calendar of events can be found on the library’s website, www.nrpl.org (click on the “Big Read” logo.) Follow the programs on Instagram (@n.r.p.l), Twitter (@nrplibrary or @librarynew), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/NRPublicLibrary).