A copy of Better Living Through Birding sits on a tree as an American Goldfinch visits one of ELPL's bird feeders in the background. (Courtesy of Eric Berling)

Regional Reading Initiative One Grand Read Connects Community Through Shared Story

Area bookworms are being united by the inaugural One Grand Read program. The initiative invites community members to read “Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World” by Christian Cooper, and participate in related activities.

Better Living Through Birding is available at the 13 Capital Area District Library branches, the East Lansing Public Library, at Hooked Bookstore and Cafe, and Schuler Books. Throughout September, there is a series of different free community programs focused on birding and nature. On Sept. 20, Cooper will be at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing for an author visit. 

Eric Berling, STEAM educator at ELPL said the community-wide initiative aims to connect people through the power of a shared story.

“We’re inviting all of the community members who are interested to check out this particular title, to give it a read, to think about it, and to engage with the topic and themes,” Berling said. “There’s a bunch of great events that we’ll be hosting, as well as CADL and MSU, before Christian Cooper’s author visit in September.”

A Great Egret successfully catches a fish, a meal it will soon swallow whole. (Photo by Eric Berling)

Community members will have several opportunities to engage in One Grand Read activities. The ELPL Nature Book Club is holding a meeting to discuss Better Living Through Birding on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. MSU Libraries will host an accessible birding outing by Beal Gardens on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.

CADL is hosting a series of introduction to birding with Capital Area Audubon Society events throughout the month. The CADL courses will be held at the Aurelius branch on Wednesday, Sept. 10 from 2 to 3 p.m., the South Lansing branch on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to noon and the Mason branch on Tuesday, Sept. 23 from 6 to 7 p.m. LansingLIT takes place Sept. 19-21, inviting the community on a weekend-long bookstore crawl and celebration of Lansing’s literary scene. 

On Saturday, Sept. 20, join the ELPL and fellow birdwatching enthusiasts for the monthly Birders Club meeting from 10-11:30 a.m. Read more about this popular intergenerational program in an ELi story here. On Thursday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m., craft a bird zine with provided materials and magazines with Michigan State University Libraries.

Berling is particularly excited about the chosen title because he helped create the Birding Club at ELPL. He also knows birding is growing in popularity locally and around the country.

“There’s a lot of people that really share this interest,” Berling said. “I think birds really can be a great way to build connections — not just connection between ourselves and the amazing natural world around us, but also connections to others throughout our community. Birds can really anchor us into a sense of time and space, and place. They really do have a cool symbolic power that invites us to think about the connection to the world and its meaning.”

A copy of Better Living Through Birding is displayed on a table and surrounded by some of the contents of the Birding Kits available for checkout at the East Lansing Public Library. (Courtesy of Eric Berling)

Carrie Sampson, communications director for the City of East Lansing, said the city previously helped hold a similar program, One Book, One Community, which connected MSU freshman and East Lansing residents through a shared book title. 

“We would bring the author to town and speak to the community, and there were lots of programming activities,” Sampson said. “It was really popular, but it kind of phased out. When [former ELPL Director] Kevin King came in, he wanted to bring that back in some way. His vision was to invite the greater Lansing community.”

Sampson was involved with different committees that narrowed down potential books, and is happy the groups settled on Cooper’s title. 

“We decided on Better Living Through Birding because it just had so many different themes and ways to engage with people — not just through Christian Cooper’s birding experience, but also his experience as a Marvel comic book writer,” she said. “One of the very first scenes is Christian Cooper rushing out to Central Park to see the Kirtland’s warbler, which is a very popular bird in Michigan.”

Sarah Reckhow, co-owner of Hooked Bookstore and Cafe, is proud to see this year’s iteration of a community-wide read reach a bit farther than just East Lansing. Reckhow said Hooked hosts many events aimed to bring people together around reading, books and authors. 

“We’re excited that One Grand Read is happening with all of the energy of bringing in a prominent and exciting author like Christian Cooper,” she said. “That weekend, there will also be other author and book-related events at local bookstores going on too. If people want to engage more broadly, that will be happening too.”

She’s also excited to see Cooper’s book and universal story themes reach more people. 

“His story in this memoir touches on a lot of themes and experiences that I think a lot of people can connect to — like how we interact with the natural world, how much something like birding is a way that regardless of where you live, you can see a diversity of life,” Reckhow said. “It reminds you if you just walk outside of your house, or go to small wooded areas, there is so much you can experience in the natural world.”

She hopes to see more unexpected conversations happen between community members, inspired by their shared book as well as their experiences — similar and different. 

The physical book is available at Hooked, as well as an audiobook available through Libro.fm. Hooked is also highlighting some other books about birds and birding that might be of interest to readers throughout September.