Ernest J. Gaines walked on stage yesterday morning and got an ovation from more than 600 students.

He hadn't even been introduced.

That would be nothing, though. Once he was introduced by Chesterfield County School Superintendent Billy K. Cannaday Jr. - who talked about the importance of this event, the importance of reading, and the humility projected by Gaines - Gaines got something more important from the students.

He got their attention.

He got their involvement.

But then his book, "A Lesson Before Dying," had already done that.

Gaines' appearance at James River High School- and a public reception yesterday evening at St. Paul's Episcopal Church by the state Capitol - capped the successful inaugural Go Read program.

The communities of Richmond and Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties - from schools to prisons to nursing homes, from libraries to book stores to book clubs - read the book this fall and discussed it, both in informal groups and in public events.

Set in rural Louisiana in the late 1940s, "Lesson" deals with a young black man sentenced to death as an unwitting party to a liquor-store killing. It falls to a young teacher to follow his aunt's request to teach the defendant to become a man before dying.

But what's it really about?

A James River student asked Gaines what it was he wanted readers to take.

"A writer [first] wishes you were entertained," Gaines said, his voice deep and gravelly. A message is good, too, but "I don't get up on a soapbox and preach." Instead, he presents characters and situations.

"The thing I would like you to get is responsibility," he added. "Whether you have a few weeks to live like Jefferson, or whether [you're like] Grant, who might live for 40 years, the question is, how well you use your time. . . . What will you do with your life?"

Earlier, Gaines had read a chapter aloud, including these words from Grant: "And that's all we are, Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood, until we - each one of us, individually - decided to become something else. I am still that piece of drifting wood, and those out there are no better. But you can be better."

Beyond personal responsibility, the book also deals with race, religion, community and the death penalty.

A Varina High School student asked Gaines if one character's claim that all black men die violently, are reduced to beasts or run and run is still a valid claim.

That's a claim held by some, including the character, but not by himself, Gaines said. There is evidence in the book and in the lives of people he knows that it doesn't have to be that way. "With good teachers and leaders you can improve," he said.

A Trinity High School student wanted to know about a preacher's claim in the book that the college-educated Grant was not really educated because he did not know his people. Who was the reader to side with, she asked.

"We must have both heart and the intellect come together," Gaines offered. Neither the preacher nor Grant could save Jefferson alone. Together, they could.

Go Read is envisioned as a three-year program. Next year's book will be chosen sometime early next year.

For more information, visit www.goreadrichmond.com.

Ray's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Call him at (804) 649-6333; fax (804) 775-8059; or e-mail rmcallister@timesdispatch.com.