We had a great deal more involvement than indicated with this photo. The program itself was 8-10 people, but the 20 copies we made available, circulated throughout the program.
Our objective in selecting Ready Player One by Ernest Cline with to appeal to a wide demographic. The event was hosted by our Teen and our Adult Services Librarians. That part was VERY successful. We heard about a family that listened to the audiobook on a family vacation and the loved it! It appealed to the parents and to the four teen children. We had an casual discussion with the family because they could not attend the program.
The discussion was very interesting. Attendees were evenly split between those who had read the book and came because they loved it and those who read it for the program.
Having a variety of ages was extremely fun! Readers who were kids in the 1980s LOVED the cultural references. People born after the 1980s found they skimmed those parts and focused on the character development.
The book led to an interesting discussion of the impact of technology on society. We also explored the idea of "the stacks" and how a world in 2044 will look.
To make the program more interesting we served food from the book, Halliday's favorite pizza, protein bars, Captain Crunch, and cupcakes with crystal, jade and copper keys, etc. Readers could choose Pepsi or Coke in the cola wars, which we found in vintage looking glass bottles.
Adding to the discussion we hung 1980's movie posters and copies of the foreign release jackets of Ready Player One. We played music mentioned in the book and a video clip of Cline driving the Delorean he gave away as part of the book contest.
We started the evening with a 3 minute intro of the first Great American Read special and ended with a discussion of the 100 list.
Everyone enjoyed the evening, thanks for supporting our library efforts!