For a complete listing of events:

www.neabigread.org

or www.auburnpubliclibrary

‘Fahrenheit 451’
Fiery theatrics usher in Big Read

AUBURN – Firefighters know exactly how much heat is necessary to burn a heap of books. They also know how to put out those fires before real damage is done.

With just a trace of melodrama Thursday night, fire crews from Lewiston and Auburn doused a small fire intentionally set in the center of Festival Plaza.

It was not a training exercise. The fire and the snuffing of it was part of a performance meant to symbolize the type of censorship that happens every day all over the world.

In particular, organizers of the Big Read event were focusing on Ray Bradbury’s classic “Fahrenheit 451,” a tale of a society taken over by a high authority that orders the burning of books deemed unacceptable for a population expected to conform.

Instead of tossing copies of the novel into the fire pit, organizers gave hundreds of them away to local readers. But as the flames were snuffed out in a hiss of extinguishers, more than a hundred participants reacted as though real novels were being destroyed.

“Save the books! Save the books,” Mayor John Jenkins wailed, as firefighters did their work. When the flames were out, he trotted triumphantly in a circle with the Bradbury novel raised over his head.

“Thank you! Thank you,” Jenkins said. “Thank you for saving our books.”

The audience appreciated the theatrics.

“Outstanding,” said Willie Danforth of Auburn. “That’s a good way for everyone to realize what goes on in some communities every day. It gives merit to this book. Sometimes, good things come out of the fire.”

If book burning were a concept exclusive to works of fiction, an event like the Big Read would not be necessary. But the librarians, teachers and booksellers behind the effort are vividly aware that books are censored and burned in communities across the country and the world.

“This event shows that when someone has an idea and writes it down, some others want to destroy those ideas,” Danforth said.

Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert also was at the scene of the brief blaze to lend his support for books and his admiration of those who write them.

“The words of a book can transport a reader to another place, another time and another way of thinking,” Gilbert said.

In the background, the Edward Little High School chorus and band played music with a burning them: “Ring of Fire,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Hot, Hot, Hot,” and “Smoke on the Water,” were included in the playlist.

The Big Read is a communitywide program that challenges people of all ages to read the Bradbury novel. A series of community and school discussions, lectures, films and other activities are planned around the themes of the book.

A hundred copies of “Fahrenheit 451” were handed out Thursday night. Several hundred others were distributed at local schools.

Jenkins, clutching his own copy of the novel, urged audience members to read it, not just for the entertainment of a good story, but to be reminded of important ideals.

“Never let your dreams and ideas be burned,” Jenkins said. “Instead, let dreams and ideas burn inside you.”