Adorable Mexican Wolf Toys — Perfect for the Lobo Lover on Your List!
The Big Read, a literary project of the West Valley Arts Council, featured Jack London’s The Call of the Wild in its 2010 events, and helped raise awareness about Mexican wolves at the same time. During these events and as part of its holiday sale, the Big Read is offering Mexican wolf stuffed animals for $10 and is generously donating a share of the proceeds to mexicanwolves.org to help support our work for Mexican wolf recovery.
To purchase a wolf and support both organizations, send an email to admin@westvalleyarts.org or call 623-935-6384. The Big Read will accept all major credit cards, checks, and cash.
More About the Big Read
The Big Read answers a big need. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. The concerned citizen in search of good news about American literary culture would study the pages of this report in vain.
The Big Read aims to address this crisis squarely and effectively. It provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities. The initiative includes innovative reading programs in selected cities and towns, comprehensive resources for discussing classic literature, an ambitious national publicity campaign, and an extensive Web site providing comprehensive information on authors and their works.
The Big Read is presented locally by the West Valley Arts Council (WVAC) in partnership with the Maricopa County Library District. The program is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. WVAC has been an NEA grant recipient for the past 4 years for the Big Read. The Big Read is a month long series of events including book discussions, film viewings, lectures, exhibits and more around a particular work of literature. WVAC’s past Big Reads include “To Kill a Mockingbird” (2007), “The Maltese Falcon” (2008), “Fahrenheit 451” (2009) and “The Call of the Wild” (2010).
