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The five American Corners in Armenia – in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Charentsavan, and Kapan – celebrated Armenia’s National Library Week on April 18, by organizing a reading marathon of Mark Twain’s classic novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” with participants from throughout the country.

As the US Embassy in Yerevan says in statement, Dozens of community leaders, literary figures, library patrons, and students joined U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr. and his spouse Leigh – a former librarian herself -  for the all-day marathon, with guests from all five American Corners connected via videoconference as each particiapant read a five-minute excerpt of the novel out loud.

“The story of Mark Twain is a story of the American Dream,” Ambassador Mills said. “Having started with very little, he became a famous author whose works are read and enjoyed all over the world, and whose characters – Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn – have become symbols of American life and the values Americans treasure – freedom, questioning authority, and ultimately our belief in every American’s personal dignity. And while Twain’s success is due to his hard work, talent, and motivation, his local library also played an important role in his career. Twain left school at the age of 12 and thereafter educated himself in public libraries in the evenings, where he said he was able to find wider information than at conventional schools. The example of Twain illustrates the important role that a library can play in a person’s life.”