The One Book, One Community (OBOC) projects were initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998, under the auspices of the Library of Congress. In the fall of 2001, Mayor Richard M. Daley launched One Book, One Chicago, a civic literacy project that has grown to be one of the most well-respected and most successful community-wide reading programs among the more than 150 similar programs nationally and internationally.
DePaul University is proud to be a part of this circle of experience that connects neighbor to neighbor across the city. DePaul holds the distinction of being the only institution of higher learning in the Chicago area committed to a full partnership with the city on its One Book, One Chicago program. Through this partnership, DePaul opens its campus to welcome citizens of all ages and backgrounds to discuss the One Book at free special events. In addition, a biannual course at DePaul is dedicated to the study of the One Book.
In conjunction with the Chicago Public Library and in partnership with the city’s One Book, One Chicago reading initiative, DePaul University’s Department of English is proud to offer the course ENG 378: Literature and Social Engagement featuring the city’s book selection, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.
Previous One Book selections include: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; Night by Elie Wiesel; My Antonia by Willa Cather; A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien; The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek; In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez; The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri; Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin; The Crucible by Arthur Miller; The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler; The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe; The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City by Carl Smith ; Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín; A Mercy by Toni Morrison; Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman; The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow; and Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li.
For more information about the history of the One Book, One Chicago program, please refer to the Chicago Public Library's One Book, One Chicago website.