This week, “The Big Read for Mercer Island” enters its third month. The initiative, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, aims to encourage leisurely reading among Island children and adults.

The Mercer Island Rotary Club earned a grant of $4,800, which was matched by the district club for a total of $9,600 in Big Read funds.

The money has already gone toward purchasing several hundred copies of “The Call of the Wild” for Island students, City Councilmembers, School Board members and others. The novel was chosen to celebrate this year’s centennial celebration of the Klondike Gold Rush, the backdrop for London’s story about a boy and his Yukon sled dog.