ENCINITAS -- The National Endowment for the Arts has granted $10,000 to Encinitas as one step toward reversing a national decline in reading literature.

Starting in March, Encinitas will launch The Big Read, a program in which residents will read and discuss a single book within their community. Encinitas' choice is the Harper Lee classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The Big Read comes in response to a 2004 study by the NEA that concluded reading literature is declining rapidly among all groups, especially children.

"We jumped at the chance to apply," said Judy Thum, a retired elementary school teacher and leader of the project for the Friends of the Encinitas Library. Thum is also a member of the city's Commission for the Arts.

The Friends of the Library chose "To Kill a Mockingbird" because of the novel's timeless themes and because it aligns with the curriculum in local high schools, Thum said.

The Pulitzer Prize-winng book was published in 1960. The setting takes place in the deep south during the Great Depression. The book took on major themes such as racial injustice, childhood innocence and coming of age, and tragedy.

In Encinitas, Thum said she hopes the Big Read will inspire reading among all ages and encourage people to visit the Encinitas Community Library when it opens early in 2008.

The Friends of the Encinitas Library will give away or sell discounted copies of the novel at its book nook. The program will also furnish 100 books in Spanish for Spanish-speaking students at San Dieguito Adult School.

The friends will also organize discussion groups and events.

One of event is a mid-March visit by Charles Shields, Harper Lee's biographer. Shields will speak at schools, service clubs and in the library's community room.

The Big Read will tie into performances of choral and Dixieland music, southern cooking classes, poetry readings, and screenings of the 1962 movie of the same title, which starred Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.

"We want to be in a city of readers who do these things," Thum said. "This is a movement to get people involved in their communities."

Since the federal agency launched the program last year, the program has expanded to award $1.6 million to 127 cities in 2007-08.

Local donors have nearly met the dollar-for-dollar match required for the Big Read grant.

Anyone wishing to donate can contact Thum at (760) 436-0783.

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 901-4074 or akaye@nctimes.com.