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One Book, One Community: Previous Selections

The One Book, One Community Program enhances the academic and intellectual culture of the college through a shared reading experience and community events.

A Chronology of Previous Massasoit Community College One Book, One College Program Selections

On this page, you will find a reverse chronology of our past One Book, One Community Program selections.  Also included here are the details and  accompanying information on past events and where applicable, resource material.  

Previous Selection: Fall 2018/Spring 2019​ ​ - with events and activities

One Book, One College - "Pushout: the criminalization of black girls in schools"  Resource Guide

Event and Activities:

  • Student Speakers
  • Author Visit and Presentation
  • Faculty Lecture: Restorative Justice
  • Judges Panel Discussion
  • The Envelope Project and Envelope Contest 
  • Spring Art Exhibit:  Old Colony YMCA Girls Detention Unit 

  • Senior and Adult Learner's Book Group Discussion

  • Book Discussions on Brockton and Canton Campus

  • Rep. Claire Cronin, on Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Legislation

  • Lee Nave, Citizens for Juvenile Justice - Brockton Community Agency Reception

  • Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins, Video: - Criminal Justice Reform: A Talk

  • Old Colony YMCA Youth Justice Women's PanelOld Colony YMCA Book Drive

  • Community Events

Previous Selection: Fall 2017 - with events and activities

One Book, One College - "Breath, Eyes, Memory: A Novel"  Resource Guide

Style: This book is a novel broken into four parts. It is written in first person narration (i, me, my).  It is a bildungsroman -- a novel dealing with one person's formative years.  
Setting: The book moves between Haiti, Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. It begins in the early 1980s.
Summary:  Sophie immigrates from Haiti to Brooklyn when she is 12 years old, and
reconnects with her mother, who left when she was a baby. Martine begins to “test” her after she discovers that Sophie has a relationship with Joseph, a much older African American jazz musician. The test was a physical examination to see if Sophie was still a virgin. Sophie eventually elopes with Joseph, and after she has a baby girl, goes back to Haiti to visit Tante Atie and Grandmé Ifé. That visit helps to heal her broken relationship with her mother

Event and Activities:

Previous Selection: Spring 2017 - with events and activities

One Book, One College - "A Chance In The World: An Orphan Boy, A Mysterious Past, and How He Found A Place Called Home"  Resource Guide

"Pemberton's beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey-beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve's refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow." -Stedman Graham, Author, Educator. 

Home is the place where our life stories begin. It is where we are understood, embraced, and accepted. It is a sanctuary of safety and security, a place to which we can always return. Down in the dank basement,amid my moldy, hoarded food and worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home,the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it.

 Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life-that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to learn that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.

Event and Activities:

  • Opening Festivities and Kick-off
  • Author Visit and Presentation - Video: Presentation-Morning Session and Afternoon Session
  • ESL Student Panel Discussion
  • Writing Contest
  • Senior Group Book Discussion
  • Brockton & Canton Book Group Discussions
  • Host & Display: "Of Many Colors" Exhibit and "Heart Gallery" Art Exhibit
  • Children's Book Drive

Previous Selection: Spring 2015 - with events and activities

One Book, One College - "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey To Justice At Little Rock Central High"  Resource Guide

When fourteen-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the "Little Rock Nine," as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.

For Carlotta and the eight other children, simply getting through the door of this admired academic institution involved angry mobs, racist elected officials, and intervention by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was forced to send in the 101st Airborne to escort the Nine into the building. But entry was simply the first of many trials. Breaking her silence at last and sharing her story for the first time, Carlotta Walls has written an engrossing memoir that is a testament not only to the power of a single person to make a difference but also to the sacrifices made by families and communities that found themselves a part of history.

Event and Activities:

  • Student Speakers
  • Author Visit and Presentation
  • First Friday Faculty Presentation and Discussion
  • Panel Discussions
  • Writing Contest
  • Storytelling with Rebecca Coco
  • Senior Book Group Discussion
  • Host & Display: "Brown vs. The Board of Education" Traveling Exhibit
  • Volunteer Fair & Bake Sale
  • WRC: Lunch and Learn

Previous Selection: Spring 2014 - with events and activities

One Book, One College - "One Amazing Thing" Resource Guide

When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself.

Event and Activities:

  • Student Speakers
  • Author Visit and Presentation
  • First Friday Faculty Presentation and Discussion
  • Panel Discussions
  • Writing Contest
  • Storytelling with Rebecca Coco
  • Service Project: Red Cross Disaster Relief
  • Volunteer Fair
  • Lunch and Learn

Previous Selection: Spring 2013 - with events and activities

 One Book, One College - "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" Resource Guide

Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

Event and Activities:

  • Author Visit and Presentation
  • Writing Contest
  • Silent Auction
  • Service Auction to benefit Food Pantry
  • First Friday Faculty Presentation by One Book Committee and student, Kassandra Williams

Previous Selection: Spring 2012 - with events and activities

 One Book, One College - "Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and A Cross-Country Search for A Greener Future" Resource Guide

Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, this green-thinking guy—who's in love with the idea of free fuel—sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease Dumpsters along the way? More important, can two guys survive 192 consecutive hours together?

Event and Activities:

  • "Cool Rides" Contest
  • Writing Contest
  • Author Visit and Presentation
  • Taping of "Writers at Work" episode with Prof. Mark Walsh
  • Library Read-In Event with author: games, activities, and reading
  • Service Project:  Giant Yard Sale

Previous Selection: Spring 2011 - with events and activities

The Iranian revolution of 1979 propelled Iran back in time both in terms of economic growth and civil liberties. The new theocracy condemned, pursued, and destroyed individuals who had any ties to the previous government, or practiced any religion other than Islam. Almost overnight, Iran morphed both physically and ideologically as the traces of secularism faded beneath the harsh Islamic edicts. Thousands of Iranians fled the country in fear of political and religious persecution, many under the most deplorable conditions. For the Iranian émigrés, exile was something temporary at first, an interim existence that kept them living with the bare minimum, yet, hopeful that one day, they would return to Iran. As time passed, the hope to regain Iran became a habit for ex-patriots, then a promise to future generations, and later a distant dream for all.

Event and Activities:

  • Panel discussions
  • Writing Contest
  • Author visit and presentation
  • Educational seminars
  • Library Read-In: reading, games, and activities
  • Whodunit! Crime Game
  • Service Project:

Previous Selection: Spring 2010 - with events and activities

 One Book, One College - "The Glass Castle: A Memoir"  Resource Guide

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

Event and Activities:

  • Book Reviews
  • Panel Discussions
  • Writing Contest
  • Making of Glass Castle Ice Sculpture
  • DIY (Do It Yourself !) Film Festival
  • Service Project: Knit Mittens for Homeless

Previous Selection: Spring 2009 - with events and activities

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”–as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too. 

Event and Activities:

  • Book Reviews
  • Panel Discussions
  • Movie Marathons
  • Writing Contest
  • Art Display: relief prints by Fabienne Bazile, MCC Visual Arts student
  • Service Project: Bednet Fundraiser
  • Guest speaker: Craig Andrade

Previous Selection: Fall 2007 - with events and activities

In Mayflower, Philbrick casts his spell once again, giving us a fresh and extraordinarily vivid account of our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. From the Mayflower’s arduous Atlantic crossing to the eruption of King Philip’s War between colonists and natives decades later, Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims a fifty-five-year epic, at once tragic and heroic, that still resonates with us today.

Event and Activities:

  • Book Review
  • Panel Discussions
  • Peter Arenstam, author of Felix and His Mayflower presentation
  • Writing Contest
  • Field Trip to Plimouth Plantation/Mayflower
  • Geocaching Contest

Previous Selection: Spring 2007 - with events and activities

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.  This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Event and Activities:

  • Book Review
  • Panel Discussions
  • Movie Night, Game Night
  • Whodunit !  Crime Game

Previous Selection: Fall 2006 - with events and activities

Erik Larson intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Event and Activities:

  • Book Review
  • Panel Discussions
  • Movie Night, Game Night
  • Bicycle Rally and Rodeo
  • The Physics of the Ferris Wheel Contest