Diverse Stories for a Diverse City

A big, bold citywide reading program is here! One Houston, One Book promotes literacy, diversity, and community conversations by encouraging Houstonians to read and discuss books with a common theme. The Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy, which has become a national model for how cities can have an impact on low literacy rates, is providing additional books for the program to engage individuals reading at various proficiency levels.

The program features three book selections: one for children, one for teens and one for adults.

Read the Books

Explores questions about difference, identity, and cultural assimilation. When Unhei, a young Korean girl, moves to America and arrives at a new school, she begins to wonder if she should also choose a new name. Her classmates suggest Daisy, Miranda, Lex, and more, but nothing seems to fit.

Partly inspired by Yusef Salaam’s life, Punching the Air is a novel in verse about a Black teen who is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and tries to find refuge in art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

In Once I Was You, Maria offers a personal and illuminating account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also sanctioned willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country’s most vulnerable populations.

Celebrate Diversity!

HPL has FREE One Houston, One Book events for all ages, all summer long: Book Clubs for all ages and reading levels, Library Open Houses, Storytimes and Craft Times, Read-Ins, and Block Parties planned all summer long, leading up to a very special Grand Finale event in September that you won’t want to miss. We’re going to have a great time, and we hope you can join us!

Check our Events Calendar to find a One Houston, One Book program near you!