One day in early October a student had his nose in a book walking down from the Spring Creek Campus atrium.

An acquaintance approached.

“Hey man, what’s going on?” the acquaintance asked.

“Nothing,” the bookworm replied keeping his eyes on the rolling lines.

“What are you reading,” the acquaintance said as he passed.

“Big Fish.”

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That anecdote took place. In fact, at any moment on the Spring Creek Campus you could throw a rock and potentially hit someone who was reading the book, "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" by Daniel Wallace, for the college’s Book-in-Common program.

Daniel Wallace

In it’s inaugural year, the Book-in-Common program is a year-long series of events that focuses on one book. The purpose of the program is to get as many students as possible in the college to read the same book. Then, students could attend the varying events to discuss the book -- its themes, characters and other literary devices.

According to Betty Bettacchi, professor of English, at least 2,000 students read Big Fish. Reading the book was not part of any class’ curriculum. Bettacchi, and English professors Lauryn Angel-Cann and Delores Zumwalt, all members of the Book-in-Common steering committee, said the first year was a success.

“I am so pleased with the way things went,” Angel-Cann said.

“It was very satisfying,” Zumwalt said. “That was the goal -- to engage as many people as possible.”

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The Book-in-Common program officially kicked off Oct. 11 at the Angelika Film Center in Plano for a screening of the book’s film adaptation, "Big Fish," directed by Tim Burton and starring Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. Individuals had to be turned away to the screening due to a sell-out.

“Film being a totally different medium opened up all kinds of channels to reach our students,” Angel-Cann said. “Film is, after all, a medium that springs from the written text.”

Although the aspect of film was an added bonus toward having Big Fish as the first Book-in-Common selection, it was not the deciding factor. Big Fish is a contemporary piece, an accessible opus by a living author, in which students can identify the themes and characters, Bettacchi said.

“It is a great read and it has mythic and psychological implications,” she said. “You can take this book as deep as you wish.

“What we want is to get students involved in college and use this as a retention tool because if they have something to be involved in, they will stay. (The program) encouraged them to read something other than a text book. We’re hoping to encourage the joy of reading.”

“A contemporary piece is important,” Zumwalt said about picking "Big Fish" adding that the book “revealed something in the students’ own experiences in the context of a universal theme.”

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Book-in-Common culminated Oct. 17 at the Spring Creek Campus when Wallace held a lecture and question-and-answer session. About 450 individuals attended this event to hear Wallace talk about fiction writing.

Angel-Cann said Wallace’s appearance made the book “immediate and personal.”

“It was useful to hear from him on the struggles and processes (in fiction writing). He didn’t sit at the computer and beat it out,” Angel-Cann said.

Zumwalt said she received very positive feedback from students regarding the author visit. Wallace himself seemed to enjoy the interaction and answering questions.

A very approachable Daniel Wallace chats with students.

“While most students enjoyed reading the book, many were very interested in seeing the author,” she said. “What pleased me the most is that the way (Wallace) interacted with the students the way he did.

“Students think about authors as dead people or distant people. They see the author as someone with different experiences from their own. They learned that writers have very similar experiences.”

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The Book-in-Common program will continue through the spring semester. Bettachi said they have a number of activities in the works, including a re-screening of the film.

Angel-Cann said she wants to expand the steering committee for next year’s Book-in-Common. She wants to incorporate a diverse set of disciplines when choosing the book and include all the campuses in the program.

“This year, it was focused in the communications and humanities division, but I hope the program will grow to each discipline and to all the campuses to be more of a common book,” Angel-Cann said. “I think Book-in-Common will come into its own in the next couple of years.”

For more information about the Book-In-Common, contact Bettacchi at 972.881.5730, Zumwalt at 972.881.5954 or Angel-Cann at 972.377.1514.