On Jan. 16, 2014 Governor Dave Heineman signed a proclamation
honoring
2014 One Book One Nebraska: Once Upon a Town:
The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene.
In this year people across Nebraska are encouraged to read this
story of how North Platte, Nebraska, a plains community of only
12,000 people, came together during World War II to provide
welcoming words, friendship, and baskets of food and treats to more
than six million GIs by the time the war ended. Award-winning
journalist Bob Greene is a CNN contributor and a New York Times
bestselling author who originally set out to write
Once Upon a
Town because, as he says on the book's first page, he was
looking for "…the best America there ever was." He found it in North
Platte, on the site of the old Canteen down by the railroad tracks.
In this nonfiction story, Greene discovers the echoes of a love
story between a country and its young people. During World War II,
American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through
North Platte on troop trains en route to their ultimate destinations
in Europe and the Pacific. This small town, wanting to offer warmth
and support to the servicemen and women, transformed its modest
railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen. Every day of the year,
every day of the war, the Canteen-staffed and funded entirely by
local volunteers-was open from 5:00 a.m. until the last troop train
of the day pulled away after midnight.
Once Upon a Town
tells the story of how this plains community and the surrounding
towns stepped up to boost the morale of more than six million GIs by
the time the war ended.
One participant in the signing ceremony was Rosalie Lippincott, of
Shelton, NE, who worked at the North Platte Canteen during her teen
years, serving meals to WWII soldiers passing through on troop
trains. She made a presentation in Aurora, Nebraska, on the evening
of the ceremony, her 41st such presentation. To view a video of a
presentation she made on November 13, 2011 to the Hall County
Nebraska Historical Society, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYHQRKUB62I
Photos of the proclamation-signing ceremony are available at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/librarycommission/sets/72157639858995916/
The One Book One Nebraska reading program, sponsored by the Nebraska
Center for the Book, Nebraska Library Association, Nebraska Library
Commission, and Humanities Nebraska is entering its tenth year. It
encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss one book,
chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a
Nebraska theme or setting. Libraries across Nebraska will join other
literary and cultural organizations in planning book discussions,
activities, and events to encourage Nebraskans to read and discuss
this book. Support materials to assist with local reading/discussion
activities are available at
http://onebook.nebraska.gov. Updates and activity listings will
be posted there and on
http://www.facebook.com/onebookonenebraska.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library
Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers,
booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and
scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to
celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the
written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the
Nebraska Library Commission.
As Nebraska’s state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission
is an advocate for the library and information needs of all
Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide
promotion, development, and coordination of library and information
services-“bringing together people and information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library
Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website,
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.