Reading the World

Last month at an all-school meeting, the Olympic fanfare played as faculty members from across departments and divisions completed a relay up and down the aisles of Waldo Auditorium, passing a tissue paper torch until it reached the auditorium stage. As the torch made its way to the librarians onstage, the school celebrated the official start of one of Dana Hall’s more recent traditions: the Helen Temple Cooke Library’s Read the World challenge.

This year mark’s the Library’s fifth Read the World challenge. The challenge was inspired by Ann Morgan’s Ted talk, “My year reading a book from every country in the world.”¹ Occurring biannually since 2016, Read the World challenges patrons to read at least one book for each of the seven continents — plus Outer Space. To be eligible as a Read the World title, the book must be written by an author native to a country or region on that continent, and the book must take place in that same country. This allows readers to learn through narratives told by those native to a place, rather than through the eyes of a visitor. The challenge is open to all Dana Hall community members — students, staff, faculty and families alike!

The program is a fun way for community members to expand their reading horizons, discover a new favorite author, and learn about cultures around the globe. It has also helped the librarians grow and diversify our collection. The biannual nature of the challenge gives us a regular opportunity to reevaluate and add to our collection of eligible titles. Particular focus is given to female voices. To prepare, the librarians seek feedback and suggestions directly from our patrons, as well as from our colleagues in the World Language department, friends abroad, and new releases of recent translations.

Patrons can sign up for Read the World at any point throughout the year at the Library circulation desk. Each participant is assigned a passport with a space for each reading destination, which is kept at the circulation desk all year in a binder. When a patron has finished reading a book for the challenge, they are invited to fill out a Google survey about their completed book, and then instructed to come to the desk to receive their official passport stamp! Once the passport has been stamped, readers can add a pushpin to the country in which their book took place to a map of the world kept by the Library’s front entrance. Each grade level has its own color of pushpin (plus faculty/staff), so visitors can easily see which grade level is in the lead!

We’ve worked hard to make finding a Read the World-eligible book intuitive, easy, and fun!  A full list of eligible books for every continent is available in our online research guide, along with tips and additional resources. For those who prefer a more advanced search, we’ve added “Read the World” alongside the continent and country to the library catalog metadata for every book in our collection that is eligible. This allows patrons to search “Read the World” in the catalog and filter their results by genre or medium type to find just the right book for them. Want to Read the World: romance novel edition? Want to read a memoir or find a cookbook from as many countries as possible? Well, with help from the catalog, now you can!

Prefer browsing the shelves in person to find a book? Every book that meets Read the World requirements is shelved with a bookmark emblazoned with our Read the World logo. Books are also “spotlighted” throughout the stacks, with select titles facing out and labeled with the book’s country. We also tie in our library displays throughout the year, such as our current “Cook the World” display, showcasing cookbooks from authors around the world.

While anyone is able to opt into the challenge and start a passport, we are proud of the partnerships Read the World has formed with classroom teachers. In the Global Scholars Certificate program in the Upper School, students may complete the Read the World challenge as part of the requirements for the certificate alongside writing a reflection about their experience reading. In the English department, librarians are invited to the classroom to give book talks featuring Read the World authors from a given continent to help students select their next reading assignment.

To keep momentum strong, the library offers a host of fun prizes for participants across divisions — with bookmarks, buttons, posters and more substantial prizes offered to participants and those who complete the challenge throughout the year. I hope you will swing by the Library to register your passport!

¹ Ann Morgan, “My year of reading a book from every country in the world,” TED Talk, London, UK, November 2015, 12 min., 03 sec., https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_my_year_reading_a_book_from_every_country_in_the_world?subtitle=en.