College-Wide Reading Program

The College-Wide Reading Program is an initiative intended to provide a common reading that encourages thought, discussion, and collaboration at Delaware County Community College. All members of the College community are invited to nominate books for the program and to participate in related activities throughout the academic year.

2021-2022 Book

The College-Wide Reading Committee is excited to announce that the 2021-2022 book choice for the theme of Race and Race Relations in the United States is Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. This "memoir-in-verse" was first published in 2014, and it quickly earned Woodson a number of awards, including the National Book Award. It is available in a variety of affordable formats: paperback, Kindle, hardcover, and audiobook. The book itself includes a multitude of narrative and image-rich poems that stitch together the story of Woodson's childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, as her family moved from Ohio to South Carolina to Brooklyn.

Brown Girl Dreaming captures the young poet's burgeoning identity as a writer, her complex search for the meaning and feeling of "home," and her deep reverence for the value of family. It also charts the earliest moments of her political awakening, as she confronts the injustices of segregated American life, the ugliness of racism, and the hope inspired by those who courageously fight for justice. Ultimately Woodson shows us the power in finding one's voice, telling one's story, and speaking out for a better world.   

Upcoming Events

About the Program

Nomination Process

Students, faculty, staff, and all other college community members are invited to nominate books for future College-Wide Reading Programs. Once the particular year’s theme is announced, we invite you to nominate any and all titles you feel would lend themselves to positive college-wide reading, discussion and programming.

History

The College wide reading program began as the brainchild of the Reading department in the spring semester of 2003. James McBride spoke on campus at the request of faculty who were teaching his memoir The Color of Water. After the success of the author’s visit, Professor Lisa Barnes worked with fellow Reading Professors Dianne Shames, Sandy Connelly and Valerie Schantz to expand the reach of the program.

The first college-wide book selection was The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (chosen by a committee of librarians, the Reading department, and English faculty volunteers). This book ran from spring 2004 to fall 2004. Discussion groups were led by members of faculty and staff from various departments and events began around the book, including serving the food mentioned in the book at a small reception. Swarup Raman gave a seminar on issues of immigration raised in Lahiri’s book.

For the next year’s pick, the program moved to following the academic year (to facilitate faculty adoption). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was chosen for the fall semester of 2005 through spring 2006. This year saw the first larger scale "tie-in" events co-sponsored by the Delaware County Intermediate Unit. Math Professors Dotty Russo and Jill Spellina delivered a seminar on the importance of numbers in the book. Our Director of the Office of Disability Services, Ann Binder, spoke about students with learning differences and the program hosted an essay competition.

Things Fall Apart was selected in 2006-2007; at this point, librarians began to prepare Library Guides for the program (available via the links above). Flags of Our Fathers began in partnership with the Delaware County Library System (DCLS) in 2007-2008.

With Courage and Cloth and Having Our Say were chosen for 2008-2009. There was an additional author visit by Chris Bohjalian (who wrote Skeletons at the Feast) as a tie-in appearance sponsored by a Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the partnership with DCLS.

The Glass Castle was chosen as the 2010-2011 choice. Over the years, the program has evolved and its name has changed from the One-Book One-College program to its current name, the College-Wide Reading Program. Titles were not selected in 2009-10 or 2014-15.

The College-wide Reading Program is now housed under the Institutional Diversity Committee. The current Faculty Fellow for College-Wide Reading is Professor Matthew Brophy. Past fellows include Professor Liz Gray, Tina Shaffer of The Virginia M. Carter Center for Excellence in Teaching, and Librarian Ellie Goldberg.

Titles