Did anyone know that Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 completely on a pay typewriter in the basement of a library? It’s true. And even today, endorsed by the National Endowment of the Arts as one of their “Big Read” selections, it remains one of the most popular One Book, One Community choices in the U.S. I mean, check out this list from the Library of Congress website:
Anchorage (Alaska) 2007
Safford City (Graham County) (Arizona) 2007
Fayetteville (Arkansas) 2007
Bakersfield (California) 2005
Carlsbad (California) 2006
Concord (California) 2007
Long Beach (California) 2005
Los Angeles (California) 2002 April
Nevada County (California) 2005
Redwood City (California) 2007
Santa Clarita Valley (California) 2007
Silicon Valley (California) 2004
Sonoma County (California) 2007
Eastern Connecticut (Connecticut) 2003
Glastonbury (Connecticut) 2005
Norwalk (Connecticut) 2008
Jacksonville (Florida) 2003
Palm Beach (Florida) 2002 March – April
Boise (Idaho) 2006
Bloomington-Normal (Illinois) 2005
Kankakee County (Illinois) 2003
Libertyville (Illinois) 2006
Peoria (Illinois) 2008 (TBR)
Allen County (Fort Wayne) (Indiana) 2003
Bloomington (Indiana) 2007 (TBR)
Carmel (Indiana) 2003 (adult) –
Lafayette (Indiana) 2002
Topeka (Kansas) 2007 (TBR)
Baton Rouge (Louisiana) 2008
Bridgewater (Massachusetts) 2008-09 #1 –
Martha’s Vineyard (Massachusetts) 2003 (adults) –
South Hadley (Massachusetts) 2006
Springfield (Massachusetts) 2006
East Lansing (Michigan) 2002
Kalamazoo (Michigan) 2003 Feb. 17- March 30
South Haven (Michigan) 2007
Omaha (Nebraska) 2004
Northern Nevada (and the Tahoe region of northern California) (Nevada) 2007
* State-wide program (New Hampshire) 2007 (TBR)
* State-wide program (New Jersey) 2003
Utica (New York) 2004
Wake County (North Carolina) 2003
Delaware County (Ohio) 2003 July
Greater Cleveland Area (Ohio) 2003 Feb-Apr
Claremore (Oklahoma) 2006
Multnomah County/Portland (Oregon) 2004
Erie (Pennsylvania) 2004
Houston (Texas) 2003
Tacoma (Washington) 2003 Feb.
Sweetwater County (Wyoming) 2007
We’ve produced a Teacher’s Guide, and now, for the reluctant readers in your community, our friends at Macmillan have just published a graphic novel adaptation of the book! But is it right for your community? Well, I guess only you would know. We do have more suggestions–a whole brand new catalog, in fact. Click below to see the PDF, or just write to us at library@randomhouse.com to request a hard copy!
