The Big Read is here!

What page are you on? Local schools, museums, businesses, institutions and libraries have teamed up as one big community to provide something even bigger: The Big Read. Starting tonight, you can pick up one of 50 free copies of The Maltese Falcon at Missoula Art Museum's First Friday reception. Want to get started earlier? We have over 200 copies of the book to give away at the Missoula Public Library Accounts Desk.

If you aren't able to grab a free copy in time, don't worry: we have several copies in different formats available for checkout.

We're also going to give away copies of the book to the weekly winners of our Find the Falcon contest, which will kick off on Monday October 4th and continue through November 12th.

Here's what's happening during the first week of the Big Read (click the links for more information):

October 1 - November 15: The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

October 4 - November 15: Online Book Discussion

October 4 - November 13th: Find the Falcon Scavenger Hunt

October 5 - October 12: MCAT Film Workshop & Open Studio

October 5: KICKOFF! Spade and the City -- A Tour of Noir

October 6: Inside The Maltese Falcon

October 9: CSI Presentation (with "The Van")

October 10: Noir Downtown Walking Tour

Special thanks to major local Big Read Missoula sponsors Missoula Art Museum, Missoula County Public Schools, Allegra Print & Imaging & Signs Now, and Humanities Montana. The Little Read is sponsored in best part by the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation.

Additional Big Read support and partnerships include DirecTV, Otis Elevator Company, First Security Bank, Missoula Federal Credit Union, Norco Products, Fact & Fiction, Shakespeare & Co., Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, MOLLI – Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Montana, MCAT, Poverello Center Inc., Missoula County Sherriff’s Office, Barnes & Noble, Book Exchange, Missoula Senior Center, Kelly Cooper, UM School of Theatre and Dance, Loyola High School, Top Hat Bar, Randi Mysse Ristau Photography, Friends of the Missoula Public Library, and Missoula Public Library Foundation. Partner libraries include Drummond School & Community Library and the Mansfield Library at UM.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.