Fresno County will host its sixth Big Read next spring celebrating The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Programs in March and April 2013 will explore London's adventure classic through dog and pet-themed book discussions, concerts, film screenings, reader's theater, author talks, art exhibits and more that will also emphasize wilderness and Gold Rush themes.

Community partners to date include Recreational Equipment, Inc., Valley Animal Center, CSUF Arne Nixon Center, Jazz Fresno, Fresno Police K-9 Unit, Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Central California SPCA, Fresno Wildlife Rehabilitation, Sierra Club, San Joaquin River Parkway, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and many others.

 The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded a grant of $17,000 to the Fresno County Public Library for The Call of the Wild. 

The Big Read is an initiative of the NEA in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest to restore reading to the center of American culture.  National support for The Big Read is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Boeing Company, the Poetry Foundation, and the Ford Motor Company.