7th One Book, One Bakersfield Read
February – March, 2005
The One Book Project was lead by the Kern County Library and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. This One Book was the first ever selected through community balloting. Fahrenheit 451 received the top vote, and the community was very excited about seeing author Ray Bradbury present the final program in person at East Bakersfield High School’s auditorium. The timing of the read gave the community a neutral platform for discussing the previous year’s highly charged community discussion over the attempt to censor author Toni Morrison’s book, The Bluest Eye, which had been offered as optional reading by a GATE class English instructor in the Kern High School District.
