Category Archives: All Campus Reads Programs

Featured Venue: A Conversation with West Kentucky Reads!

Gail Robinson Butler, the coordinator for the One Book, One Campus, One Community program at West Kentucky Community and Technical College was gracious enough to offer these thoughts on her experience as an All Campus Reads organizer. Thanks Gail!

BIC: Any idea about how many campus literary events you’ve done over the years?

GRB: Over the years, WKCTC has conducted many campus literary events spanning various departments and divisions, including the library and the English Department. Those events are numerous and exciting. Many Kentucky and regional authors, such as Silas House and Bobbie Ann Mason, were brought to campus. Seven years ago, we decided to add to our literary offerings and produce a One Book, One Campus, One Community Read every other year. WKCTC has involved numerous community partners in both the planning and production of the event, including the Paducah-McCracken County Library, Paducah Public Schools, McCracken County Public Schools, McNet Library Network and more. On alternate years we produce a Campus Read, targeting English 101 students. New York Times best-selling authors David Baldacci, Jeannette Walls, Homer Hickam and Garth Stein have visited Paducah as a result of the reads.

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Welcome Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black

A big welcome to Piper Kerman, author (and ex-con) of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Following a plea deal for a 10-year-old crime, Piper Kerman spent a year in the infamous women’s correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, which she found to be no “Club Fed.” In Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman takes readers into B-Dorm, a community of colorful, eccentric, vividly drawn women. Her memoir, which has been adapted into an original television series for Netflix, is compelling, moving, and often hilarious. With many teachable moments that emphasize the justice system, codes of behavior, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance, Orange is the New Black is an ideal selection for All Campus and Community Reads. And Piper Kerman is an engaging and lively presenter!

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Young Adult Version of Sonia Nazario’s Enrique’s Journey Now Available

With an estimated one million children living illegally in the United Stated, and nearly one in four of the nation’s elementary school students of immigrant status, Pulitzer Prize winner Sonia Nazario’s moving tale of one boy’s journey has met widespread acclaim and become a national bestseller. In Enrique’s Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunited With His Mother, Sonia Nazario’s compelling story has been adapted for a younger audience. The YA version contains a new epilogue, updating readers on where Enrique is today, and on his life since his story become national news. With the immigration raging as a hot-button political issue, Enrique’s Journey brings to light the daily struggles of immigrants, legal and otherwise, and the complicated choices they face to survive.

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Chico State Promotes Community Reading – Books in Common Featured!

Chico State’s 2013-14 Biggest Book Club in the North State selection was on the theme of “Reading Water.” They chose Robert Glennon’s Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It. In an effort to promote their event, Chico State created this wonderful video describing both the benefits of the Community Reading Program in general, and their exciting programming for Glennon’s thought-provoking book. Check out the history of the common reads philosophy, and see our own Books In Common website featured!

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Share Your Story in Monroe County

One Amazing Thing

This year, the Monroe County “One Book, One Community” wowed visiting author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni with their organization, planning, and community support. We asked Cheryl Johnston, one of the event’s co-chairs, to share some of the skills and tricks to pulling off a successful common read program. Read More »

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Something in Common

Dawn Stuart

Welcome to Books In Common, from Director Dawn Stuart

For more than a decade I’ve chatted with thousands of literary event planners. From Community Reads committee chairs, to All Campus/Freshman Class Reads staff, to Literary Festival organizers, and beyond, I’ve been part of the process. I’ve helped select book titles that work for a particular type of event and community. I’ve supplied information on speaking fees and author schedules, and organized the details of the author’s visit. Every person and venue is unique, but we all have something in common: we’re passionate about books and inspiring more people to read and share their literary experience with others.

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Survey: Organizers of School-based Author Events, Let Us Know Your Thoughts

As part of our ongoing efforts to help match up events with the very best books for their particular needs, we’re conducting a survey of school-based author event organizers.

It’s fun, it will only take you a few minutes, and it will help hundreds of other Campus Reads Planners across the country.

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Nancy Pearl and the history of Community Reads Programs

Nancy Pearl

How do we bring together people of diverse backgrounds, politics, interests, and lifestyles when all they share is a common city? Librarian Nancy Pearl tried using a book. It worked, and the idea spread around the country (as good ideas tend to do).

What began with a simple “If All Seattle Read the Same Book” in 1998 has developed into a national phenomenon. Libraries, colleges, towns, schools, and even states now host Books In Common type programs.

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Sonia Nazario’s Enrique’s Journey: Top Selection for 2011 Campus Reads

Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

Many Community Reads Programs select books about characters who live far different lives from most of their readers. National bestseller, Enrique’s Journey, a nonfiction account of a young Honduran boy setting out to find his mother in America, is one such book. Enrique’s Journey has already been selected by 58 universities and scores of high schools as a Freshman/All Campus Reads. It’s been adopted by nine cities as a “One City, One Book” selection. Pulitzer Prize winner, Sonia Nazario, answered a few questions for us about her book and its impact on communities throughout the US.

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  • Garth Stein: A SUDDEN LIGHT