CLAYTON — Hawn Memorial Library is one of 3,000 libraries across the country selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to received free hardcover editions of 17 classic books from the first We the People Bookshelf. The theme of this year's bookshelf is "Created Equal."

Other libraries in Northern New York selected to receive books through this program include those at Copenhagen Central School, Hermon-DeKalb Central School, DeKalb Junction, Lake Placid Elementary and Middle/High schools and Long Lake Central School; Dexter Free Library, Hepburn Public Library of Lisbon, Port Leyden Community Library and Hay Memorial Library, Sackets Harbor.

The We the People Bookshelf on "Created Equal" contains the following books:

Kindergarten through Grade 3:"The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln and "Pink and Say" by Patricia Polacco.

Grades 4 through 6:"Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis, "Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence" by Russell Freedman, "Lincoln: A Photobiography" by Russell Freedman, "Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom" by Virginia Hamilton and "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson.

Grades 7 and 8:"Saturnalia" by Paul Fleishman, "Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" by Russell Freedman, "Abraham Lincoln the Writer: A Treasury of His Greatest Speeches and Letters" edited by Harold Holzer and "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez.

Grades 9 through 12:"Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution" by Natalie S. Bober, "That All People May Be One People, Send Rain to Wash the Face of the Earth" by Nez Perce Chief Joseph, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, "Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography" by William Lee Miller and "Amistad: A Novel" by David Pesci.

The award is part of the NEH's We the People initiative, which supports projects that strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. Selected public and school libraries in all 50 states each will receive a set of the 21 books (including Spanish translations of four of the titles), posters, bookmarks, bookplates from the NEH and the ALA, "History in a Box" resource materials on Abraham Lincoln from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and access to online planning and promotional materials. Participating libraries will present programs on the theme of "Created Equal" for their students or library patrons.

Hawn Library will use this resource during the summer reading program, which officially begins Monday, June 30, at the library with a paint and pizza party.

For more information, about the We the People Bookshelf programs, contact the library at 686-3762 or daystarbook@hotmail.com, or visit www.nc3r.org/clayton.

For more information about the We the People Bookshelf project, visit http://publicprograms.ala.org/bookshelf.