For the fourth year, the Library and the Susquehanna County Literacy Program once again collaborated on a community reading program. Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, a short but powerful novel set during the Civil War, had particular resonance for our area. Special events included readings on WPEL, a bus trip to Gettysburg, participation in Old Mill Village's Civil War Living History weekend, a workshop on PTSD, showing of the movie, and a panel book discussion with local scholars. About 165 people registered for the program, which was supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities' We the People initiative.

We hope to continue the program in the future. To get updates, and for the opportunity to help select next year's book, please join our email list:

The Susquehanna County Reads Committee extends special thanks to the following individuals and organizations for their assistance:

Thanks to WPEL and our volunteer readers, the first seven chapters of The Red Badge of Courage were broadcast on their AM channel (800 AM) from September 27th to October 1st. We have uploaded them in MP3 format. You can listen to the segments below by clicking the black triangle, or download them to your computer by right-clicking the download link.

The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War takes place during the Civil War at an unnamed time and place (it's believed to be a fictionalization of the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.

• Because The Red Badge of Courage is in the public domain, you can read it online at Project Gutenberg
• Listen to or download an audiobook version read by Librivox volunteers from the Internet Archive
• The Stephen Crane Society is full of useful sources
• Some additional information is available at the Red Badge of Courage website (ad-supported)
• Read an excerpt of Shelby Foote's introduction to the novel at Random House
• Many teaching resources, helpful for all readers, are available online:
  • NEH lesson plan 1
  • NEH lesson plan 2
  • End of chapter questions
  • Yale Teacher Institute lesson plan
  • Classroom issues
• Essays available online:
  • Early reviews
  • Battle of Chancellorsville
  • "Imaging the Civil War: Authenticity in Painting, Photography, and The Red Badge of Courage"

Thank you to everyone who participated in making our 3rd annual county reading program successful! We had almost 200 registrants. Susquehanna County Reads was supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities' We the People initiative on American history. Click Read More for a list of people and organizations who played a special role. Thank you all!

Kristin Sanner, Associate Professor of English at Mansfield University and a resident of Dimock, wrote a wonderful essay for this project about the relevance of the novel to our present-day lives in Susquehanna County. Thank you, Dr. Sanner! Click "Read More" to view the essay.

Thanks to WPEL and our volunteer readers, the first twelve chapters of My Àntonia were broadcast on their AM channel (800 AM) from October 5th to October 9th. We have uploaded them in MP3 format. You can listen to the segments below by clicking the black triangle, or download them to your computer by right-clicking the download link.