Embracing Dreams and Stories: 2024 Big Read Lakeshore Program

By Deborah Van Duinen Now in its 11th year, Hope College’s Big Read Lakeshore, an annual month-long community-wide reading program, continues to foster a culture where reading matters in West Michigan’s Ottawa, Muskegon, and Allegan counties. In collaboration with many libraries, nonprofit organizations, and schools, this annual reading initiative invites thousands of people of all

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unCommon Authors, an Author Video Series: SUPERCOMMUNICATORS by Charles Duhigg

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   One of NPR’s Best Books of the Year Finalist for the Sabew Best in Business Book Award From the author of The Power of Habit, a fascinating exploration of what makes conversations work—and

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unCommon Authors, an Author Video Series: CO-INTELLIGENCE by Ethan Mollick

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   From Wharton professor and author of the popular One Useful Thing Substack newsletter Ethan Mollick comes the definitive playbook for working, learning, and living in the new age of AI. In Co-Intelligence, Mollick

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Message

The renowned author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities. I Though we do not wholly believe it yet, the interior life is a real life, and the intangible dreams of people have a tangible effect on the world. —James Baldwin

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Keith Payne’s Good Reasonable People

There has been much written about the impact of polarization on elections, political parties, and policy outcomes. But Keith Payne’s goal is more personal: to focus on what our divisions mean for us as individuals, as families, and as communities. This book is about how ordinary people think about politics, why talking about it is

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unCommon Authors, an Author Video Series: FIRE IN THE CANYON by Daniel Gumbiner

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   Fire in the Canyon is a novel from National Book Award nominee Daniel Gumbiner about a California grape-grower, his family, and the climate disaster that upends their quiet lives.  

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s What If We Get It Right?

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side. This provocative and joyous book maps an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures. Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data, poetry, and art, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the

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Unearthing Organic Farming History While Reconnecting with My Punjabi/Cali Roots

A Q&A with Jaclyn Moyer In 2012, twenty-five-year-old Jackie Moyer—the daughter of a forbidden marriage between a white American father and a Punjabi American mother—leased 10 acres of land in Gold Hill, California, and embarked on a career in organic farming. With a fractured relationship to her heritage, Moyer saw an opportunity for repair when she learned

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Banned Books Week: A Letter to Employees, from PRH CEO Nihar Malaviya

The following message was sent by PRH CEO Nihar Malaviya to all employees on the second day of Banned Books Week 2024:   September 23, 2024 Hi everyone, Welcome to Banned Books Week! At a time when the freedom to read is under attack, it is more important than ever to celebrate the books that

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Daisy Hernández’s A Cup of Water Under My Bed

PEN Literary Award–winning author Daisy Hernández “writes with honesty, intelligence, tenderness, and love” about her Colombian-Cuban heritage and queer identity in this poignant coming-of-age memoir (Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street). A heartfelt exploration of family, identity, and language, A Cup of Water Under My Bed is ultimately a daughter’s story of finding herself and

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unCommon Authors, an Author Video Series: AND SO I ROAR by Abi Daré

                                                                        PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Banning Lyon’s The Chair and the Valley

Banning Lyon was an average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX. He enjoyed skateboarding, listening to punk rock, and even had a part-time job. But in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counselor falsely believed he was suicidal after giving away his skateboard. Days later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital,

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