One Community, One Book
One Community, One Book is a Johnson County reading project in the fall sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR).
Browse previous One Community, One Book selections
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2019
2019
Selection
The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
by Lauren Markham
All Iowa Reads
All Iowa Reads encourages Iowans to read and discuss a single title during the year.
Browse previous All Iowa Reads selections
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2019
2019
Adult Selection
This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm
by Ted Genoways
The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, yet its future is in peril. Far from an isolated refuge beyond the reach of global events, the family farm is increasingly at the crossroads of emerging technologies and international detente. Ted Genoways explores this rapidly changing landscape of small, traditional farming operations, mapping as it unfolds day to day.
For forty years, Rick Hammond has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation farm. But as he prepares to hand off the operation to his daughter Meghan and her husband Kyle, their entire way of life is under siege. Confronted by rising corporate ownership, encroaching pipelines, groundwater depletion, climate change, and shifting trade policies, small farmers are often caught in the middle and fighting just to preserve their way of life. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, This Blessed Earth is both a history of American agriculture and a portrait of one family’s struggle to hold on to their legacy.
2019
2019
Young Adult Selection
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
by Atia Abawi
In a country ripped apart by war, Tareq lives with his big and loving family... until the bombs strike. His city is in ruins. His life is destroyed. And those who have survived are left to figure out their uncertain future.
In the wake of destruction, he’s threatened by Daesh fighters and witnesses a public beheading. Tareq’s
family knows that to continue to stay alive, they must leave. As they travel as refugees from Syria to Turkey to Greece, facing danger at every turn, Tareq must find the resilience and courage to complete his harrowing journey.
2018
2018
Kids Selection
Ghost
by Jason Reynolds
Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential.