COURT HOUSE — Assistant Professor of Developmental English Stephanie Natale told the Atlantic Cape Community College Board of Trustees about the College-wide Book Program in which the entire college community reads the same book and engages in college-wide discussion.
A new book is selected every year with the intention, Natale said, to spark interdisciplinary discussion “on and off campus.”
“Some of my students tell me this is the first book they’ve ever read cover to cover,” she said.
The project, in its fifth year, starts with faculty input to select a book with multiple themes for application in many disciplines. Natale, leading the project, said it is “a labor of love.”
The goal is to select a book the entire college community can read and provide online materials for teachers to easily integrate the book into classes without losing core course content.
This year the college chose “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, a 250-page memoir of Walls’ childhood, because, Natale said, the book is accessible to all student levels while it is still challenging to advanced students.
Natale described the book, a New York Times Bestseller, as a “success story.”
She said 850 copies would be read by students in Social Studies, Art and ESL (English as a Second Language) courses, among others.
The book deals with themes of poverty, so Natale encouraged food donations and volunteer projects at each of the college’s campuses to further illustrate the book’s themes.
Through October, bins at college locations are available to collect nonperishable food to donate to the Community Foodbank of South Jersey in Egg Harbor Township.
Student, faculty and staff volunteers will then work at the food bank on Nov. 1.
Pre-registration is required and volunteers must provide their own transportation. The college will host a viewing of the rags to riches movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” on Nov. 20 at the Mays Landing Campus.
Read something good lately? Books recommended for next year must be less than 250 pages, available in paperback, accessible to all student levels, including developmental courses, and have multiple themes applicable to a variety of applications.
No more than three college book recommendations with title, author and comments, can be sent to: cwbook@atlantic.edu.
Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 ext. 24 or at: ltruluck @cmcherald.com.
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