What is the “Big Read?” It is a city-wide program created in the midwestern United States in 2006 to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and bring the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens.

The City of Dallas adopted the program as a city-wide suggested read three years ago, and in 2014, they personalized it by re-naming it “Big D Reads.”

The first book selection for Dallas was “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. The following year and the first year as a “Big D” read, the suggested book was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby.”

This year, “True Grit” by Charles Portis is the Big D Read.

And who better to crow about the shenanigans of the novel’s character, Rooster Cogburn — the one-eyed, meanest U.S. Marshall around — than legendary local humorist, author and storyteller, Rose Mary Rumbley?

At a presentation hosted by “Friends of the Lakewood Library” Wednesday afternoon, Rumbley shared the difference between “strong men” and “tough men.” She even cited presidents who were tough men and who could have survived in the “Wild West” with a horse and a gun like the cowboys of western movie fame as she began a review of Rooster Cogburn and “True Grit.”

A moonshiner from Arkansas, John Franklin Cogburn, nicknamed Rooster, was such a man.

“Six foot three, dark eyed and a dead shot with a rifle, Franklin was as hard as the rocky mountain ground which reared him. The only authority the Cogburn clan recognized was God and a gun,” said Bret Cogburn, John Franklin’s great-grandson, an Oklahoma journalist. “Governments didn’t build your home, make your clothes, hunt your meat or defend your life. When it came to the Law, a man rolled his own from the makings of his individual ideas of right and wrong,” Cogburn added.

When Charles Portis began writing a serialized story for the “Saturday Evening Post,” he fashioned his character, Rooster Cogburn, on Bret Cogburn’s great-grandfather, John Franklin.

Interestingly, the idea for the novel “True Grit” started as serial literature — a story published in short installments at regular intervals.

“This accounts for the many ‘cliff hangers’ in the novel,” Rumbley said.

“True Grit is a classic American adventure in a classic American landscape,” reads an excerpt from the dust jacket of a 1968 edition of the book.

The story begins in the 1800s, when Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Ark., sets out to avenge the death of her daddy, who was killed by a drunken outlaw. Even a young girl as feisty and brave as Mattie would not travel Indian Territory alone, so she hired the meanest U.S. Marshall around to accompany her. That would be one-eyed Rooster Cogburn.

The novel takes the reader through one dangerous and action-packed adventure after another, brought about by the harsh Wild West and the people who lived it.

Everyone who attended Wednesday’s library event left with another memory of a Rumbley review and a special edition copy of “True Grit.”

The books were a gift from several generous donors who want everyone in Dallas to experience the power of a great book through the “Big D Reads” program.

The Read began this month, so pick up your copy and begin the adventure. You will soon remember how much you miss the “Old West” from your childhood days.