BPL Awarded the "We The People" Bookshelf Grant

The Birmingham Public Library received the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) We the People Bookshelf award. The grant award provides collections that promote the theme of “Created Equal,” a theme inspired by the 2009 bicentennial year of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. This special NEH grant will also support public programs in Birmingham’s communities. The collections will be available for checkout at all 20 Birmingham Public libraries.

The NEH collaborated with the American Library Association (ALA) in awarding free copies of classic books to 3,000 public and school libraries throughout the United States. Each library received the 17 classic books on the theme of “Created Equal” from the We the People Bookshelf, along with 4 titles also offered in Spanish translation.

The We the People Bookshelf is a program that encourages young people to read classic books and explore themes in American history, culture, and ideas. The bookshelf includes a collection of books ranging from preschool to the 12th grade. These books will be featured in special library displays during February 2009. In addition, the libraries will host We the People-themed storytimes.

As a bonus, each library received a We the People Bookshelf set along with a “History in a Box" resource kit on Abraham Lincoln. This kit, developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, contains a resource book (print and CD formats), DVD, interactive CD-ROM featuring primary source documents, photographs, artwork, maps, songs, and other teaching resources.

We the People Bookshelf Collection
"Created Equal" Collection
This year’s “Created Equal” theme includes the following titles, selected by the NEH, in cooperation with the ALA and the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of ALA:

Kindergarten to Grade 3

• The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
  
• The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
  
• Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
  

Grades 4 to 6

• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
  
• Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman
  
• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
  
• Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom by Virginia Hamilton
  
• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
  

Grades 7 to 8

• Saturnalia by Paul Fleishman
  
• Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman
  
• Abraham Lincoln the Writer: A Treasury of His Greatest Speeches and Letters edited by Harold Holzer
  
• Breaking Through by Francisco Jiménez
  

Grades 9 to 12

• Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober
  
• That All People May Be One People, Send Rain to Wash the Face of the Earth by Nez Perce Chief Joseph
  
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  
• Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography by William Lee Miller
  
• Amistad: A Novel by David Pesci
  

Spanish Versions

• Pink y Say by Patricia Polacco (translated by Alejandra Lopez Varela)
• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson (translated by Rosa Benavides)
  
• Senderos Fronterizos: Breaking Through (Spanish Edition by Francisco Jiménez)
  
• Flores Para Algernon by Daniel Keyes (translated by Paz Barroso)
  

Bonus:

• "History in a Box" kit on Abraham Lincoln