K-STATE FIRST BOOK

K-State First Book

A campus on the same page.

K-State First Book

The first book program is designed to provide a common experience to help first-year students grow academically and socially, and share something with all other first year students along with our broader campus community each year.

They Called Us Enemy book cover - small boy is in the foreground looking at the viewer while his family is being pulled towards a camp by a soldier

2023 Book: They Called Us Enemy - George Takei

"They Called Us Enemy" is an illustrated memoir that George Takei co-wrote with Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker. The story provides a window into the Japanese internment camps of World War II through the eyes of Takei and his family. It offers Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

"George Takei's award-winning graphic memoir will offer our students and campus an opportunity to learn more about Japanese American incarceration during World War II," said Greg Eiselein, professor of English and director of K-State First. "It is an incredibly absorbing and emotionally powerful reading experience."

KSFB Event in Beach Museum - Students with George Takei

Attend events sponsored by K-State First Book, K-State First, and our campus and community partners.

Two students pointing at iced tea bottle

Join our selection committee, plan an event, and engage in conversation!

K-State First Book flyers in a box

Learn more about how the program works, our learning outcomes, and our history.

Past common books lined up on a shelf

Connect to resources for classrooms, events, and co-curricular opportunities.