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K-State Today

January 30, 2023

Help K-State First Book select the common reading book for 2023

Submitted by Karin Westman

K-State First Book logo

We started with "The Hunger Games" in 2010, we met "The Other Wes Moore" in 2015 and we learned how to prepare for "The Unthinkable" in 2022: What will be the common read in 2023?

K-State First Book, or KSFB, the all-university reading program, selects a common book for the academic year and coordinates classroom and campus activities to correspond with the reading. As part of K-State First, KSFB provides incoming students with a shared academic experience that they can discuss with professors, staff, administrators and other students when they arrive on campus.

The 2023 First Book Selection Committee — comprised of 30 students, staff, administrators and faculty from two campuses — spent the last six months reading 29 books on the theme of books that share an authentic voice.

The committee has narrowed the list down to three finalists:

  • "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen" by Jose Antonio Vargas.
  • "They Called Us Enemy" by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and Harmony Becker. 
  • "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson. 

We would like your help selecting the 2023 university common book.

Visit the First Book webpage to read about these three finalists chosen for consideration and offer your feedback by the end of the day, at 11:59 p.m. CST, on Monday, Feb. 6.

The Book Selection Committee looks forward to your response. 

Visit the K-State First Book website for more information, including a list of past book selections. More information about K-State First, the university's first-year experience program, is available at the K-State First website