Ann Patchett

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Ann Patchett Dear First-Year Student Administrator, We’ve combed through all of HarperCollins’ titles, new and classic, to compile a list of our best books for first-year student reading programs into one catalog. We hope that you’ll also think of us as a resource. Need sample copies? You can reach us at [email protected] or 212.207.7997. We’re happy to suggest titles, alert our HarperCollins Speakers Bureau about your request for an author visit, and help coordinate your book order. Sincerely, Diane Burrowes Doreen Davidson Louisa Hager www.HarperFirstYear.com www.HarperAcademic.com T A BLE O F Table of Contents CON T EN New and Featured.....................................................................................4 ts Big Ideas..................................................................................................12 American Society......................................................................................22 American Memoir.....................................................................................29 American Fiction......................................................................................38 Global Issues and Memoir.........................................................................51 World Fiction............................................................................................57 Classic Fiction..........................................................................................62 Religion............................................................................................................65 Orientation.........................................................................................71 Writing 101...............................................................................................74 Index.................................................................................................75 Ordering Information................................................................................77 FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: BOOKS FOR COurse ADOPtiON The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer For those who want to give their students a global per- spective, this story of a young man from poverty-stricken NEW & FEATURED Malawi who built a windmill from scavenged parts to bring electricity to his village hits all the right notes: a deep look into life in a developing nation, science and engineering in- sights—and inspiration. William is now an engineering major at Dartmouth College. “This is an amazing, inspiring and heartwarming story! It’s about harnessing the power not just of the wind but of imagi- nation and ingenuity. Those are the most important forces we have for saving our planet. William Kamkwamba is a hero for our age.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein Freshman Common Read: Avila University, Purdue University, Maryville University, University of Florida, Central College, Boise State University, University of New Mexico- Albuquerque, Utah Valley University, Winthrop University, and California State University, Chico—among others William Morrow Paperbacks: 320 pp. 2010 • 978-0-06-173033-7 • pb • $14.99 ($16.99/CAN) However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph Aimee Molloy Here is the story of America-to-Senegal transplant Molly Melching and her collaboration with Senegalese locals to create the remarkably successful Tostan—a democracy and human-rights-based education initiative to promote relationships built upon dignity, equality, and respect. Unlike many Western organizations of the past that have tried to transform African cultures from the outside, Molly and Tostan’s philosophy is to work within a community, allowing people to make major changes to their culture of their own volition with the understanding that true change must come from within. Tostan’s groundbreaking strategies have led to better education for the women of rural Africa, improved health care, a decrease in child/forced marriage, and declarations by thousands of African communities to abandon the centuries-old practice of female genital cutting. “Molly Melching saw a deeply disturbing but deeply entrenched practice and refused to accept that it couldn’t be stopped. Her relentless efforts are proof that commitment and partnership can drive transformational change.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton HarperOne: 272 pp. • 2013 • 978-0-06-213276-5 • hc • $25.99 ($27.99/CAN) Paperback available in May 2014: 978-0-06-213279-6 • pb • $14.99 ($18.99/CAN) 4 KEY: ebook Available Audio Book Available FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: BOOKS FOR COurse ADOPtiON Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the NEW & FEATURED Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon Paul Rosolie One the great living explorers and naturalists, 25-year-old Paul Rosolie has worked on conservation projects in tropical ecosystems all over the world, specializing in the Western Amazon. Along with running Tamandua Expeditions, a project which uses ecotourism to support rainforest conservation, Paul has visited some of the last unexplored places on the map. He has traveled with poachers into deep jungle to document the black market trade in endangered species, he has learned from indigenous trackers about the Amazon’s flora and fauna, and he has explored a previously undocumented ecosystem that has come to be called the “floating forest.” Mother of God is Rosalie’s testament to the wonders of the rainforest, inviting students to become “junglekeepers,” and conveying the vital lesson that if we don’t work to protect biodiversity, we may be among the last people who will be able to explore the primordial wonder of the Amazon. “A great adventure with a great and enduring point: we simply must protect these last, vast slices of the planet that still work the way they’re supposed to.” —Bill McKibben, 350.org Harper: 336 pp. • 2014 • 978-0-06-225951-6 • hc • $25.99 ($33.99/CAN) Hardcover and ebook edition will be available in February 2014. Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal Conor Grennan Conor Grennan left his job with a plan to travel the world. Stopping first to volunteer at the Little Princes Orphanage in war-torn Nepal, his life changed forever. Conor soon discovered that many of the children with whom he had been playing with were not orphans, but the victims of human traffickers, who had kidnapped children from their homes and families. Shocked and affected by what he learned, Conor opened his own orphanage two years later, with the mission of helping to reunite stolen kids with their families. “The author stumbles into volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal and gets involved in reuniting trafficked children with their families. The energy of these children will make you laugh even though they’ve been through hardship and loss.” —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Freshman Common Read: Ball State University, St. Bonaventure University, San Jose State University, Otterbein University, Central College, Wingate University, Michigan Technical University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute—among others William Morrow Paperbacks: 320 pp. 2012 • 978-0-06-193006-5 • pb • $14.99 ($16.99/CAN) KEY: ebook Available Audio Book Available 5 FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: BOOKS FOR COurse ADOPtiON NEW & FEATURED Wish You Happy Forever: What China’s Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains Jenny Bowen Two years after reading an article about the thousands of neglected girls suffering in Chinese orphanages, Jenny and her husband adopted a little girl from China and brought her home to Los Angeles, not out of a need to build a family, but rather out of a need to save a life. After the adoption, Jenny was overcome with a desire to help all of the girls who she could not bring home. It was this desire that served as the catalyst to start the powerful, life-changing Half the Sky Foundation, an organization committed to transforming social welfare in China, one orphanage at a time. In Wish You Happy Forever, Jenny Bowen delves into the challenges that come with launching an international organization and shares the moments of triumph after long periods of struggle, demonstrating the power of true tenacity and persistence even in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition. For information on internships or how to volunteer, visit www.halfthesky.org. HarperOne: 288 pp. 2014 • 978-0-06-219200-4 • hc • $25.99 ($33.99/CAN) Hardcover and ebook editions will be available in March 2014. The First Phone Call from Heaven: A Novel Mitch Albom Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, returns will a moving story that begins when the phones in the small town of Coldwater, Michigan, begin ringing. The callers claim to be from heaven, and they tell their loved ones that they are safe and happy. Albom follows several Coldwater residents whose lives are irrevocably touched when they are confronted with evidence that heaven exists. An allegory about the power of belief, Albom’s masterful storytelling has never been so moving and unexpected. Harper: 272 pp. 2013 • 978-0-06-229437-1 • hc • $24.99 ($32.99/CAN) 6 KEY: ebook Available Audio Book Available FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: BOOKS FOR COurse ADOPtiON The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: NEW & FEATURED Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe Gayle Tzemach Lemmon The life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree
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