Who Let the Dogs Out? Rutgers-Camden’s Big Read Urges Readers to Dig 'The Call of the Wild'

CAMDEN – From 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 27, copies of Jack London’s classic book The Call of the Wild will be available for Camden readers as will a host of activities, from a roaming London lookalike, panning for gold sessions, graham-cracker cabin building, and a puppet show, all at the Rutgers–Camden Campus. A dog sled demonstration originally planned for the event has been postponed.

As part of the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Program,Rutgers–Camden’s Center for the Arts (RCCA) has partnered with the Camden Free Public Library for six weeks of programming, thanks to a $20,000 grant. The Camden Campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey represents one of seven Big Read communities in New Jersey and one of three in the southern part of the state.

The fun begins on Feb. 27, when The Call of the Wild will first be distributed, book discussion groups will officially form, and the Rutgers–Camden Campus will be temporarily transformed into a kind of arctic wilderness to rally readers for the book. 

“We want to get people excited about the book, by trying to bring certain elements of it to life,” says Noreen Scott-Garrity, RCCA deputy director of outreach and curator of education. “Since the story is told through the perspective of Buck, a dog, cultural barriers are lessened, and readers from all genders and backgrounds, can partake in a superb adventure.”

While The Call of the Wild, which details the life of a sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1800s, is on the reading lists for Camden students in eighth and ninth grades, a companion book for young readers, The Story of Balto, will also be part of the program, including Balto Puppet Theater and hands-on art activities.

Rutgers–Camden’s Big Read will continue with various upcoming discussions, film screenings, and lectures, as well as select afterschool programs, coordinated through the Camden Free Public Library. A Boy Scout badge for reading the book is also in the works. In addition to the kick-off, copies of The Call of the Wild will also be distributed to the Camden County Jail, various senior centers and residential facilities in the city, youth groups, and book discussion groups or organizations that plan on reading the book.

“Reading is definitely its own adventure. Our hope is that the Big Read starts readers on their own literary journeys that last way after this book and onto countless others,” adds Scott-Garrity.

More information about Rutgers–Camden’s Big Read is available at http://rcca.camden.rutgers.edu/bigread.html. For directions to Rutgers–Camden, visit camden.rutgers.edu.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.