Nominations

Help us pick the 2026-27 common book! Explore information and feedback for our three finalists below, and be sure to share your feedback on our survey.

Theme

  • Books for a Next-Gen K-State: inspiring learning, creativity, discovery and engagement that positively impacts society and transforms lives in Kansas and around the world.

2026 Finalists

Callings

Callings book cover

Callings

In Callings, StoryCorps founder Dave Isay presents unforgettable stories from people doing what they love. Some are paid well for their work, others not at all; some found their paths at a very young age, others later in life; many overcame great odds or upturned their lives in order to pursue what matters to them. These stories were collected over the past two years as part of a national outreach campaign, a first for StoryCorps, and most have never been published or broadcast until now.

 

 

 

Everything is Tuberculosis

Everything is Tuberculosis book cover

Everything is Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

 

Second Chances

Second Chances book cover

Second Chances

The author of the heartwarming Craig and Fred tells the deeply emotional and inspiring story of the next phase of their lives working closely with prison inmates in Maine who raise and train puppies to become service dogs. Former US Marine Craig Grossi and his dog Fred appeared on the "Today Show" and "Rachael Ray", and in schools, bookstores, and military bases across America as they told the uplifting story of how Craig found Fred, a stray, while serving in Afghanistan--and brought him home. During their travels, Craig was invited to speak at Maine State Prison—the penitentiary that inspired Stephen King's famous "Shawshank." While there, he met a group of very special inmates, participants in a program run by the non-profit America's Vet Dogs.

 

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Past Nominations: