The premise behind “Pay It Forward” by Catherine Ryan Hyde ($7.99 Pocket Books), the book for this year's Cayuga Reads Program is quite simple: Acts of kindness that are multiplied three-fold can change the world.

The book is the story of a young boy who, as part of an extra credit assignment for his social studies class, comes up with the idea of paying it forward #- a reverse ponzi scheme (unlike the Bernard Madoffs of the world who take, this one gives back and is value added) where people who have nice things done for them when not requested, do positive acts, again, without being asked to do so or for compensation, for three others.

While the book has a somewhat predictable ending, it has a positive message that change for the better occurs, when we do the right thing, without asking or expecting reward. So often the news media focuses on these acts because they seem so rare.

The hope from this book is the replication that “In a few months, acts of kindness were no longer considered news.”

Cayuga Reads has picked this year's book after starting with “Nickel and Dimed: on (not) getting by in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich, followed by Malcolm Gladwell's “The Tipping Point” on trends and the “Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, that deals with child neglect and homelessness.

Organizers work diligently to find a book #- fiction or nonfiction #- that is accessible to readers both in availability and price (several, more recent books have been passed over, because they are not mass market paperbacks).

One slight change this year, all for the better, is that Cayuga Reads has partnered with Success By Six, the organizers of the Imagination Library, an effort that gets a new book into the hands of every child from birth to age 5, without cost. They have jointly picked “The Kindness Quilt” by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, unfortunately only available in hardcover ($16.99) so that children can be part of this community endeavor. The library and many preschools have it on hand.

By the way, for those who want to cheat and watch the Kevin Spacey/Haley Joel Osment film based on the book, there are significant differences.

As is the usually case - the book is better than the movie.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com