Did NSC give out free books as part of the Big Read?
PFEIFFER: We gave away a thousand in English and four hundred in Spanish. That was a big part of our budget, actually. WOOD: And you know, it was really exciting. First of all, the schools were thrilled to give them out. But we gave (oh boy this is a good one!), we gave them out on Meals on Wheels too. NEA: What were some of the events in your Big Read? WOOD: We had a free day here at the Center that always draws a lot of people from the community, and it draws families. And we had a Steinbeck Alive little theater presentation, just two people who enacted scenes from The Grapes of Wrath. We had more than 200 people that day. We had panels of teachers at a junior college and at California State University that we brought students to. It gave local students a chance to see a college campus, and to see the most interesting kinds of conversations that can happen. So we had a panel of people up there — deans and former deans of the University of California and the State University of Monte
