Sister Helen Prejean and DEAD MAN WALKING teaching kit from DePaul University Library

DePaul University Library’s Special Collections and Archives recently created a teaching kit for Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate by Sister Helen Prejean. The library houses Prejean’s papers and twenty primary sources were selected for the kit to deepen the reading experience.   Developed by members of DePaul’s College of Education, the

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Changing the World One Girl at a Time: Ideas for using Tanya Lee Stone’s GIRL RISING for school- or community-wide reading projects

Girl Rising, a global campaign for girls’ education, created a film that chronicled the stories of nine girls in the developing world, allowing viewers to witness how education can break the cycle of poverty.   Now, award-winning author Tanya Lee Stone deftly uses new research to illuminate the dramatic facts behind the film in a

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One School, One Book Celebration for APPLEBLOSSOM THE POSSUM

Saugatuck Elementary School in Westport, CT, kicked off their second annual One Book, One School initiative by choosing Holly Goldberg Sloan’s Appleblossom The Possum this Spring.  Sloan’s story follows a family of adorable marsupials as they make their way into the world, and learn life lessons that are applicable to all students along the way, serving as

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New Audiences for THE HANDMAID’S TALE

More than thirty years after its original publication, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel set in a frightening America of the near future where women-function only in the strictly defined roles assigned to them by men, remains unnervingly resonant to our current cultural conversation. The book as a result has returned to the bestseller list. Atwood has written a new introduction to the

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Pulitzer Prize winners: THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and EVICTED

For Fiction, the Pulitzer Prize Board called THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, by Colson Whitehead “a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America.” The novel chronicles a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in

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The “Crazy Reading Ladies” discuss choosing BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY for All In! 2017

We never said Yes. We weren’t even talking about next year’s book. Weeks still stood between us and summer vacation and we were busy with activities to wrap up our current adventure. Typically we discuss books for our school-wide reading initiative for the better part of a year. But when people ask us how we

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BEHOLD THE DREAMERS Author Imbolo Mbue on College and the Immigrant Experience

I was born in Cameroon and moved to the United States after high school to attend college. Having never been that far from home, I was extremely homesick in my first months in the country (it didn’t help that the weather was too cold for my liking). That all changed when I arrived at college.

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“Solving Illegal Immigration [For Real]:” ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY Author Sonia Nazario’s Ideas for Fixing a Broken System

In a new Ted Talk entitled “Solving Illegal Immigration [For Real],” decorated journalist and author Sonia Nazario suggests an alternative method to naturalization or heavy border policing to stem the flow of undocumented individuals into the United States. Nazario boasts a long and impressive writing career, during which she has shown immense dedication to featuring

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THE INVISIBLE BOY Promotes Kindness in Kentucky’s One Book One Frankfort for Children Project

The Invisible Boy Promotes Kindness in Kentucky’s One Book One Frankfort for Children Project by Trudy Ludwig, author of The Invisible Boy (Knopf Books for Young Readers, October 2013) It’s one thing for an author to write a story that she has a strong need to share. It’s quite another for her to experience in person

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