Welcome to The Big Read 2009!

The Rancho Cucamonga Library is very pleased to bring you the 2009 Big Read! This year we will be reading Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima. Published in 1972, this modern classic brought Chicano literature to a wider audience, and the book is often assigned reading in schools. Bless Me, Ultima is the coming-of-age story of Antonio Márez, a young boy living in the small town of Guadalupe, New Mexico during World War II. When Antonio meets a curandera (traditional folk healer) named Ultima, his life changes, and he is forced to mature as he deals with religious and moral issues that are new to him.

The Big Read in Rancho Cucamonga will take place September 15, 2009 through October 15, 2009, to correspond with National Hispanic Heritage Month. This year's Big Read will include a September 18th Hispanic Heritage Cultural Night Kick Off event, a wild bird presentation, book discussions, keynote guest speaker Edward James Olmos and a screening of the movie Stand and Deliver. A full schedule of events for the Big Read is available at both libraries or in our online calendar of events.

Check back here every weekday starting September 15 for chapter discussions, and feel free to add your comments! The Big Read is a community event, and we're excited to have you be involved.

What is The Big Read?
The Big Read is an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The program was created in response to the NEA report Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, which identified a decline in literary reading among American adults. The program provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities. Rancho Cucamonga is one of nearly 200 communities participating in the Big Read in 2009.