J.D. Salinger’s formerly banned-turned-classic “The Catcher in the Rye” hails as the first book in the “One Book, One City-Malibu Month,” proclaimed by Mayor Jeff Jennings, which kicked off March 9 and will go through April 9.
“In a time where technology has in some cases tossed the book aside in favor of sound bytes and pixilated messages,” reads the proclamation, the campaign serves to promote literacy and to foster community spirit, setting aside time for Malibu’s citizens “young and old” to “enjoy and celebrate the art of the printed word, the unfolding of poignant human themes, and the universality of a classic literary form.”
Modeled after Seattle’s program, If All of Seattle Read the Same Book, now in its fourth year, Malibu’s One Book, One City program places the community in the company of hundreds of U.S. cities taking part in similar reading campaigns. The program will feature community discussions and events scheduled throughout the month.
A surprise celebrity guest will launch the campaign at Malibu High School on March 21 at 9:30 a.m. with selected readings from “The Catcher in the Rye.”
MHS students will sell copies of “The Catcher in the Rye” as an Associated Student Body fundraiser, and the book will also be available for loan at the Malibu Library, which is also the location of the second kick-off event on March 22 at 2 p.m. Mayor Jeff Jennings, Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley, Malibu librarian Fanny Love, L.A. County library system regional administrator Josie Reyes, a professor of literature from Pepperdine University, and Michael Cart, a nationally known and published expert on young adult literature, are scheduled to speak at the event. Starbucks, one of the campaign underwriters, will provide coffee and cookies.
“The campaign is an opportunity to bring minds together to look at and discuss different issues and themes in a community as diverse as Malibu,” said Alexis Deutsch-Adler, who, with Kearsley introduced the program to the Malibu City Council.
“‘The Catcher In the Rye’ is a classical American novel and a classic piece of literature that transcends the ages,” Adler said.
The story addresses issues to which everybody can relate. In the book, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is undergoing an identity crisis.
“Everybody has to go through it, it’s just a matter of how you go through it,” said Kearsley, who remembered the book being a “no-no” for kids to read when he was a teacher at Santa Monica High School, where he taught for 30 years.
“People actually searched backpacks to see if kids had the book,” Kearsley remembers. He said he used to protest the ban on books, arguing kids “should be able to read anything they want.
“There’s nothing offensive in it by any current standards,” Kearsley added, who said adults should re-read the novel if they’ve read it before, as it will help them to recall and understand what it’s like to go through an identity crisis, which may enable adults to empathize more with today’s teenagers.
Students from local middle and high schools were among the committees that helped select “The Catcher in the Rye.” Committees, which also included librarians from Malibu High School and the City of Malibu and Kearsley, chose the book based on certain criteria given to them as guidelines. The novel had to be 1) an American classic, 2) address themes a community might address, such as law and order, morals, life, death, social issues and racism, 3) have an interesting plot structure, and 4) have poignant themes. Once the five lists of books were compiled, they were condensed to 20 books, and then narrowed to five. Other books on the final list included John Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat” and “The Pearl,” “A Lesson Before Dying” by Earnest Gaines and “Farewell to Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston.
Some of the scheduled events include a Malibu Book Club discussion, a panel of “The Catcher in the Rye” experts gathering, during which a film will be shown, and a trivia challenge.
Helping to coordinate and plan the campaign are Alexis Deutsch-Adler, Kathy Sullivan and Mary Lou Blackwood, all of whom are Malibu “bookies,” defined by Adler as people who “read a lot and patronize the library.”
Adler said the undertaking is a “collaborative effort,” and includes sponsorship from several area businesses such as Starbucks, Duke’s Malibu restaurant, and the Friends of the Malibu Library.
“I hope this will bring a lot of people to come together to discuss a common theme in Malibu,” Kearsley said. “Promoting literacy is a noble goal.
“It’s a fun thing to do, especially since you’re not going to get a grade at the end,” he laughed. “It’s reading for reading’s sake.”