MORGANTOWN — The book-loving members of The Literary Society are old souls, even if most of them are just 16 or 17, tops.
Those old souls are reaching out in a literacy-promoting event this week in Morgantown, but first, some backstory.
Around twice a month or so, the society, whose members hail from Morgantown High School and cross-town University High, find time to get together.
They sip tea (hence, the wordplay in the name of their assemblage), while doing something else that’s pretty wondrous these days, for people of any age.
They read.
Yes, they drink their tea and turn their pages – and then talk about those words on those pages they take in.
And this isn’t just any reading, mind you.
No pre-movie, Harry Potter.
No teen-angst travails, a la John Green.
Try Jane Austen, instead.
Or Rousseau or Voltaire, or the other single-name icons of the canon.
For Thanksgiving, the society tried on “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant’s 1884 short story about wants-versus-needs, complete with the surprise ending that was his signature.
“We talked about the story’s themes of how important it is to really count your blessings and to appreciate the irreplaceable things you already have in life,” said Rania Zuri, 16, an MHS junior who founded the society.
Don’t get hung up on the fact the telling is nearly 140 years old, she said.
“You can’t go wrong with classic fiction. The references and some of syntax might change, but the truths are universal.”
“Universal,” is also an apt descriptor for the society.
That’s because it’s not just a book club. It’s also a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Zuri used her allowance to help pay for the filing fees.
And a very specific mission is fueling that chapter of its narrative.
Crossing the book desert
“We want to get books in the hands of young readers,” she said.
The specific part of that specific mission means children, ages 3-6, who come from needy households, or from regions where one can’t always physically or digitally get to the printed word.
In the U.S., that means kids in Head Start programs, and kids whose moms, dads or caregivers don’t read aloud to go to libraries because they’re too busy simply trying to get by.
Call it a “book desert,” she said. And such deserts, she stresses, can make pliable, impressionable brains barren.
As she says, words on a page don’t just entertain – they energize.
Since she’s unabashed in her aforementioned love of classic fiction, she also isn’t shy about drawing upon an oft-repeated adage either, to advance the plot.
“If you can read, you can learn,” she said.
“How many times have we heard that? And it is true. Reading inspires critical thinking. You learn about people. You learn about your world.”
You can help book passage across that desert by going to Barnes and Noble this week.
Reading and wrapping
The bookseller in University Town Centre is partnering with the society for the outreach.
Customers are asked to purchase an age-appropriate book from specially designated shelves and other display areas through Saturday.
Every book purchased as part of the part of the promotion will be donated to the student group, which, in turn, will send it along to Head Start programs statewide or the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, for youngsters presently in foster care.
Along the way, it has formed other ties with Monongalia County Schools and state Department of Education. The West Virginia Head Start Association has also offered advice.
In the meantime, The LiTEArary Society will gather again Sunday at The Marriott at Waterfront Place – not to read, but to wrap.
The gift-wrapping party will be the final chapter for that part of the mission.
‘One book at a time’
Rania is also president of the Morgantown High chapter of UNICEF, the United Nations outreach effort for children worldwide.
As a high school freshman, she founded an effort that supplied books to children in refugee camps.
Like her, many of the LiTEArary Society members at MHS and UHS have diverse backgrounds, which is why the local group is presently forming chapters in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, not to mention Florida, New York and California across the U.S.
Founding members include Eden Gibson, her best friend second-grade on; and her MHS classmate, Vaageesha Das, who frequently writes columns for The Dominion Post.
It’s the same old story, Rania said, in a good, good way.
“When I was a little girl, I was walking around with a princess book before I could even read,” she said.
“Now, I can read a book in one sitting, I get so lost. I’ll look up and I’ve read 600 pages and hours have gone by.”
The society wants to check off recipients the same way, she said.
“We have a tagline: ‘Inspiring Future Bibliophiles, One Book at a Time.’ That’s us.”
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