WSMV Channel 4 4 O'Clock Focus: Reading program spreads 'The Hunger Games'

4 O'Clock Focus: Reading program spreads 'The Hunger Games'

Most people are so busy these days they barely have time to speak to their neighbors, let alone read a book.

But we found one place in Middle Tennessee where that is not the case, and the whole community is coming together because of a popular reading program.

The Read to Succeed program in Murfreesboro has the whole town talking.

Rutherford County readers sit in complete silence, soaking in every word. The book is The Hunger Games, a suspense novel where winning means fame and fortune, and losing means death.

"It seems like I'm brought into the country of Panem every time I read this book," Murfreesboro sixth grader Savannah Gannon said.

From the classroom to the neighborhood coffee shop, it's a book literally the whole town has read or is talking about.

"I just walked by and saw the copies and said, 'Oh, that's the book! I've got to get that book,'" said John Iaccheri, of Murfreesboro.

The masterminds behind Read to Succeed chose the book, obtained 300 free copies from Ingram Publishing, and since November, The Hunger Games has been floating around the community, being gobbled up by the masses.

"People are passing it around to co-workers, family members, people in the grocery store line, people at the doctor's office," said Michelle Palmer, Read to Succeed committee member. "So pretty much wherever you go in the city or the county, you're going to find people reading this book."

The Read to Succeed plan is simple. Just read the book, then pay it forward.

Read to Succeed is continuing to circulate books between now and March, when the movie is due for release.

As far as organizers are concerned, the mission has already been accomplished. People are reading and finding some common ground to talk about.

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