With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 340 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2024-25. We will continue to update this

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

Oprah’s Book Club Pick  Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.   “Come in. But take off your shoes. My husband put down these floors.” The woman disappeared into the house. The boy hesitated, looking down the empty street. The

Acclaimed science writer Ferris Jabr reveals a radical new vision of Earth where lush forests spew water, pollen, and bacteria to summon rain; giant animals engineer the very landscapes they roam; microbes chew rock to shape continents; and microscopic plankton, some as glittering as carved jewels, remake the air and sea. Humans are one of

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   Amplify is a blueprint for boosting your activism and building support for the causes you care about, featuring fan-building tactics from the music industry and the voices of today’s most passionate change-makers.

In this timely new book in Beacon’s renowned ReVisioning History series, professor Gloria Browne-Marshall delves into the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. Beginning with Indigenous peoples’ resistance to European colonization and continuing through to today’s climate change demonstrations, Browne-Marshall expands how to think about protest through sharing select historical moments

The Coming Wave is an urgent warning of the unprecedented risks that AI and other fast-developing technologies pose to global order, and how we might contain them while we have the chance—from a co-founder of the pioneering artificial intelligence company DeepMind and current CEO of Microsoft AI.     The Containment Problem Revenge Effects Alan

Dear Reader, When I was born, my parents could not afford childcare. So they could make ends meet, they sent me to Taiwan to live with my maternal grandmother, my Puo Puo, while they studied and worked in the United States. She and I developed a special relationship that continued even after I returned to

Daughters of Shandong is a propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story.   1 Heirless Nai Nai said whores weren’t allowed in the house, so she kicked Mom out, slamming the

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

Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of journalism exposes a new and troubling trend—the dramatic rise of the working homeless in cities across America.   1 Britt scrutinized her face in the bathroom mirror, hoping she looked less tired than she felt. Sleep had been hard

Carbon is the only element that animates the entirety of the living world. Though comprising a tiny fraction of Earth’s composition, our planet is lifeless without it. Yet it is maligned as the driver of climate change, scorned as an errant element blamed for the possible demise of civilization. Here, Paul Hawken looks at the flow

On March 31, 2025, the Penguin Random House First-Year Reading Advisory Board convened for their annual summit. The Board Members, representing a variety of public and private higher education institutions of varying sizes and geographic regions, came together to exchange ideas, discuss the complexity of the current common reading landscape, and provide feedback. The Advisory

When I was in college, and first set a goal for myself to one day publish a book, I had a few ideas of what success would look like. I wanted the book to be available in bookstores, like Barnes & Noble and Borders (remember those?). I wanted it to be published by one of