Thousands
of copies of the selected book are available to borrow from libraries
and are distributed to schools, colleges, reading groups, businesses and
members of the public. High quality support material is produced, an exciting
programme of activities is organised and the project receives extensive
coverage in the local media.
Although each year’s book is different, the mission of the Great
Reading Adventure remains the same: to bring communities together through
the power of literature, and to encourage more reading and writing by
the widest range of people in Bristol.
In 2003, we shared an adventure on the high seas with Robert Louis Stevenson’s
Treasure Island; in 2004 we were terrified by John Wyndham’s
The Day of the Triffids; and now in 2005, we turn to a haunting
story about the suffering and survival of ordinary people in time of war
with Helen Dunmore’s The Siege.
Copies of The Siege are available for loan from all branches
of the Bristol Library Service. And, in addition, Creative Bristol has
2,000 copies to give away: register at the link above for a chance of
receiving one. We are also distributing copies of the illustrated readers’
guide free of charge.
On this website you can download a copy of the guide which will tell you
about Helen Dunmore and her work, provide background material on Leningrad
and the Bristol Blitz, and suggest questions to think about while you
read the book. Additional background information can be found by following
the links in the side bar. This site also provides news of all the activities
that are taking place over the next two months including film screenings,
talks, workshops, competitions and other events, as well as copies of
the education material that has been produced. We are keen to receive
feedback from readers on what they think of the book and to hear of their
own wartime experiences, and will post a selection of the comments we
receive on the Reader Contributions page.
We hope you
will enjoy taking part in the 2005 Great Reading Adventure.
Some of the documents on this site are in PDF format and require Adobe
Reader. Download Adobe Acrobat reader here.
Word versions are also available.
You can find out more about previous Great Reading
Adventures by following the links below:
Treasure
Island 2003 Archived Website
The Day of
the Triffids 2004 Archived Website
PDFs of each year's evaluation report are on the 2004 site.
Word versions are available here:
