One Book, Two Hearts
Donation protected
The One Book, Two Hearts Project provides a book as a gift to my community college English students at the end of the semester. I choose a book specifically for each student, based on that student's interests, personality, and background. The goal is to give my students a book that is so "perfect" for them, so alluring, that they cannot resist reading it. And often it works---some students begin reading their books the moment they open them.
The money will be spent at used bookstores to purchase a book for each of my 90 students per semester. $1,000 will fund the project for 2-3 semesters. Please keep in mind that even a donation of $5 provides the gift of reading to a student.
A little history:
This project began informally in 2018 when I chose a book for each of my Introduction to Literature students. I wrote notes inside the books, wrapped them, and gave these gifts to the students on the last day we met. I made this effort due to a comment one of my students wrote in his reflection about the book Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. My student wrote:
"To be honest with you, it was the first time in my life that I finished a book. Besides school textbooks, I didn’t read any books in my life at all. So I want to say thank you! because you made me believe that reading and finishing a book is not something impossible. It can be a good start for me. Especially because I loved this book. It took me away. To sky. To nature. It made me feel as light as a ghost."
—anonymous comment from an Ohlone College English student
My heart broke to read this. I didn’t know whether to cry or to beat the walls. My head swam with questions. How did this intelligent student go his whole life without reading a novel? Have we as a culture stopped reading books? And if so, what have we lost? It’s hard to put into words exactly why I want my students to keep reading. I feel reading might offer them a place of solace. It might give them friends that do not yet exist for them in the real world. It might create new possibilities for how to live or how to think. For those experiencing depression or alienation, reading might even save their lives.
It’s true that books are everywhere, even on our streets in Little Free Libraries. But how would anyone know which book to start with? A gift of a book from a teacher who knows you a little and cares about you a lot could be a beginning. It might be the one thing that keeps someone on the path of reading for life.
To read more about why I feel we need books more than ever:
https://professorhurley.com/2019/12/03/why-we-need-books-more-than-ever/
The money will be spent at used bookstores to purchase a book for each of my 90 students per semester. $1,000 will fund the project for 2-3 semesters. Please keep in mind that even a donation of $5 provides the gift of reading to a student.
A little history:
This project began informally in 2018 when I chose a book for each of my Introduction to Literature students. I wrote notes inside the books, wrapped them, and gave these gifts to the students on the last day we met. I made this effort due to a comment one of my students wrote in his reflection about the book Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. My student wrote:
"To be honest with you, it was the first time in my life that I finished a book. Besides school textbooks, I didn’t read any books in my life at all. So I want to say thank you! because you made me believe that reading and finishing a book is not something impossible. It can be a good start for me. Especially because I loved this book. It took me away. To sky. To nature. It made me feel as light as a ghost."
—anonymous comment from an Ohlone College English student
My heart broke to read this. I didn’t know whether to cry or to beat the walls. My head swam with questions. How did this intelligent student go his whole life without reading a novel? Have we as a culture stopped reading books? And if so, what have we lost? It’s hard to put into words exactly why I want my students to keep reading. I feel reading might offer them a place of solace. It might give them friends that do not yet exist for them in the real world. It might create new possibilities for how to live or how to think. For those experiencing depression or alienation, reading might even save their lives.
It’s true that books are everywhere, even on our streets in Little Free Libraries. But how would anyone know which book to start with? A gift of a book from a teacher who knows you a little and cares about you a lot could be a beginning. It might be the one thing that keeps someone on the path of reading for life.
To read more about why I feel we need books more than ever:
https://professorhurley.com/2019/12/03/why-we-need-books-more-than-ever/
Organizer
Jennifer Hurley
Organizer
Fremont, CA