Program and activity ideas
- Programs for adults and teens
- Programs for children
- Involve your mayor
- Resources
- Exhibitions and decorating the library
- Publications
Attracting teens
To create enthusiasm among teen audiences and to ensure that your programs will appeal to teens, involve them in organizing "Grapes of Wrath" programs, activities and exhibitions, and in developing "Grapes of Wrath" resources. Focus your activities for teens during Teen Read week: October 13-19, 2002.
Getting attention
Think of different ways to draw media attention to your programs. For example, perhaps staff could dress in clothes from the period during some of the events. Be inspired by "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- award prizes to people who check out the special copies of "The Grapes of Wrath."
Book and poetry programs
Use the resources on our website to organize a book discussion program based on "The Grapes of Wrath." Our "The Grapes of Wrath" discussion guide includes questions that are suitable for teens and adults and that relate the story to the contemporary California experience. Our website also contains information on hosting and participating in a book discussion program.
Contemporary book discussion program
Use the bibliography of further reading on our website to organize a book discussion program using contemporary books (such as T. C. Boyle's "The Tortilla Curtain") whose themes reflect those in "The Grapes of Wrath." Discuss the contemporary California experience and what it means to be a Californian in the twenty-first century.
The migrant experience
Organize a book discussion that focuses on books and poetry written by migrants and about the migrant experience.
Poetry evenings
Organize evenings of poetry that are themed around or inspired by "The Grapes of Wrath." Possible themes include:
- Coming to California: the migrant experience Views of the U.S./Mexican Border - Views from the U.S./Mexican border. Homelessness in California
- Workers rights and the living wage
To enhance your discussions and poetry evenings, create a partnership with a local coffee shop. Perhaps they will provide refreshments for your discussion programs and, in return, a librarian or library docent could lead a "The Grapes of Wrath" book discussion program in the coffee shop. You can use this opportunity to create awareness of library programs in the community.
Campaigns
Initiate a "Get Caught Reading 'The Grapes of Wrath'" campaign. Award prized to people who are seen reading the book at certain times in October or in certain locations. Perhaps ask as local business to sponsor the campaign and provide the prizes. Be inspired by the American Library Association's READ posters. Ask prominent members of your local community to pose for photographs with a copy of "The Grapes of Wrath" and publish them in local newspapers and magazines, on your website, and as posters and flyers.
Film Programs
Film programs in the library
Use the resources on our website to organize a screening of "The Grapes of Wrath" in your library. Use our scholar list to identify a speaker, or contact a local filmmaker to come and talk about and facilitate a discussion of the film. Use the filmography on our website to create a film series during October. Host a film night in the library once a week and screen films that reflect the themes, such as homelessness, migration and workers rights, that Steinbeck wrote about in "The Grapes of Wrath." If possible, select films whose stories reflect those of the members of your community.
Work with a local movie theater
If you don't have the equipment or resources to host a screening at the library, partner with a local cinema to organize a screening of "The Grapes of Wrath." Consult our list of scholars, and bring in a speaker to talk about the film and book and facilitate a discussion after the screening. Create a partnership that works for you and the cinema owners. Perhaps people who show their library card at the cinema could get in at a reduced price? Or perhaps some of the proceeds from the evening could be donated to the library? In return, the library could promote the film to the local community to ensure a full house and disseminate "The Grapes of Wrath" information at the screening.
Theater programs
Invite a local theater troupe to perform "The Grapes of Wrath" in your library. Alternatively, partner with a local theater to have the play performed at their venue. Perhaps library card holders could see the play at a reduced price, and the library could provide book discussion guides and bibliographies to be handed out at the theater.
Writing programs
Hold writing workshops in which participants learn about autobiography and telling their stories. Compile the stories into a booklet, and display and make it available in the library. Convene poetry workshops in which participants learn the art of writing poetry and then write about their experiences of coming to California. Display the poems in the library in October, publish them online, or compile them in a booklet.
Panel discussion programs
Take one or more of the themes in the book and use them as a springboard for panel discussions in the library. For example:
- The California experience: What is the California experience of the members of your community? What does it mean to be a Californian today? What is the California Dream?
- Migration: Who are the Joads of today? invite people to come and discuss their experiences of migrating to California. Where did they come from? What kind of a welcome did they get from California?
- Homelessness: Convene a panel to discuss some of the issues around the homeless in your community.
- Migrant workers and workers rights: Bring in representatives from local unions to facilitate discussions about the struggles faced by migrant workers, and about the rights of workers. Discuss the state of the union movement in California.
- The Living Wage Movement: Hold a discussion on the status of the Living Wage Movement in California today. Literature: Who are the Steinbecks of today? Convene a panel to talk about the writers who are discussing the contemporary California experience. If possible, invite local writers to address this theme.
- Censorship: "The Grapes of Wrath" was banned in many communities when it was first published. Include a panel discussion of the First Amendment, censorship, and intellectual freedom as part of your "The Grapes of Wrath" activities.
- Human rights: What kinds of human rights violations are taking place in California today? Who are the people and what are the organizations that are trying to prevent these violations from happening?
All-day programs and read-a-thons
Create an all-day "The Grapes of Wrath" festival in your library. Use the migrant theme in "The Grapes of Wrath" to organize your activities: focus on books written by migrants or about the migrant experience; invite local, immigrant artists to decorate the library. Use the other sections in this resource to come up with ideas for panel discussions, music, exhibitions, and other activities. Include a "The Grapes of Wrath" read-a-thon in your festival. Invite people from different migrant groups to read from the story to illustrate its relevance to the contemporary California experience. Do you have local celebrities who could be encouraged to participate and draw attention to the event?
Music programs
Local radio station
Partner with your local radio station and encourage them to devote a show to music from the dustbowl era and how it relates to contemporary music and issues. Great publicity for the library and its programs!
At the library
Invite local musicians to come and play music in or outside the library on the weekends in October. The musicians could play dustbowl era music, and music from their native countries that represents their own migratory experience.
Art programs
Partner with a local high school and get students in art classes to design their version of a "Grapes of Wrath" book cover or movie poster. Display the artwork in the library in October.
Volunteerism programs for teens
Encourage your teen group, or teen council, to volunteer with an organization that serves new immigrants to California, in a homeless shelter, or with other organizations serving people whose stories reflect those of the Joads. Organize a sponsored read-a-thon of "The Grapes of Wrath" to take place in the library or organize a Steinbeck-themed book drive. Donate the proceeds of the read-a-thon, and the books donated to the book drive to organizations serving people whose stories reflect those of the Joads. For example, homeless shelters, immigrant rights organizations, human rights organizations, organizations helping people obtain housing, migrant farm worker organization. Organize a sponsored read-a-thon of "The Grapes of Wrath to take place in the library, or organize a Steinbeck-themed book drive or a food and clothing drive. Donate the proceeds of the read-a-thon, and the books, clothes and food donated to the book drive to organizations serving people whose stories reflect those of the Joads. Some examples are homeless shelters, immigrant rights organizations, human rights organizations, organizations helping people obtain housing, migrant farm worker organizations.
Steinbeck programs
Steinbeck quiz night
Organize a Steinbeck quiz night in your library. Use the resources on our website to devise a set of questions about Steinbeck, his books, life in California in the 1930s and related topics. Invite people to compete in teams, provide some refreshments, and offer small prizes. You could make this into a fundraiser for the library and use the funds raised to support your other "The Grapes of Wrath" programs.
Steinbeck party
The Steinbeck quiz could be part of a larger Steinbeck party hosted by the library. Play music from the dustbowl era and display photographs of your community and its residents in the 1930s. Perhaps a local band could come in and play live music.
Visit Steinbeck country
If you are loctaed near sites featured in Steinbeck's life and books, organize a day trip with your teen group, friends group or library group.