Established in 2003, the All Iowa Reads program is one of the first projects to be provided by the Iowa Center for the Book.
The purpose of All Iowa Reads is to foster a sense of unity through reading. We encourage Iowans statewide to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same year. Libraries, book clubs, schools and other local organizations are encouraged to sponsor discussions of the title. Please use this site for information as you read and study the book. We offer a wealth of materials including book reviews, discussion questions, author bios, and publicity materials to help you prepare successful discussions.
2019 All Iowa Reads Selections and Program Resources
2019 All Iowa Reads: This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm by Ted Genoways
Program Resources:
⚫ Discussion Questions for This Blessed Earth
⚫ About Author Ted Genoways
⚫ Reviews and Interviews about This Blessed Earth and Ted Genoways
⚫ Find Copies of This Blessed Earth to Borrow
⚫ Publicity Items
⚫ Webinar Recording
⚫ Submit All Iowa Reads Events to the Literary Events Calendar
About the Book
The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, yet its future is in peril. Far from an isolated refuge beyond the reach of global events, the family farm is increasingly at the crossroads of emerging technologies and international detente. Ted Genoways explores this rapidly changing landscape of small, traditional farming operations, mapping as it unfolds day to day.
For forty years, Rick Hammond has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation farm. But as he prepares to hand off the operation to his daughter Meghan and her husband Kyle, their entire way of life is under siege. Confronted by rising corporate ownership, encroaching pipelines, groundwater depletion, climate change, and shifting trade policies, small farmers are often caught in the middle and fighting just to preserve their way of life. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, This Blessed Earth is both a history of American agriculture and a portrait of one family’s struggle to hold on to their legacy.
The 2019 title is a joint selection between Iowa’s All Iowa Reads program and Nebraska’s One Book One Nebraska program to celebrate the combined Iowa and Nebraska Library Associations Conference in Omaha in the fall of 2019.
2019 Teen All Iowa Reads: A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
Program Resources:
⚫ Discussion Questions for A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
⚫ About Author Atia Abawi
⚫ Reviews and Interviews about A Land of Permanent Goodbyes and Atia Abawi
⚫ Find Copies of A Land of Permanent Goodbyes to Borrow
⚫ Webinar Recording
⚫ Submit All Iowa Reads Events to the Literary Events Calendar
About the Book
In a country ripped apart by war, Tareq lives with his big and loving family... until the bombs strike. His city is in ruins. His life is destroyed. And those who have survived are left to figure out their uncertain future.
In the wake of destruction, he’s threatened by Daesh fighters and witnesses a public beheading. Tareq’s
family knows that to continue to stay alive, they must leave. As they travel as refugees from Syria to Turkey to Greece, facing danger at every turn, Tareq must find the resilience and courage to complete his harrowing journey.
But while this is one family’s story, it is also the timeless tale of all wars, of all tragedy, and of all strife. When you are a refugee, success is outliving your loss.
2019 Kids All Iowa Reads: Amina's Voice by Hena Khan
Program Resources:
⚫ Discussion Questions for Amina's Voice
⚫ About Author Hena Khan
⚫ Reviews and Interviews about Amina's Voice and Hena Khan
⚫ Find Copies of Amina's Voice to Borrow
⚫ Submit All Iowa Reads Events to the Literary Events Calendar
⚫ Webinar Recording
About the Book
Amina’s Voice tells the story of an 11-year-old girl navigating friendship, family, religion, and dreams of becoming a soul-singing sensation. In a quiet Milwaukee suburb, Amina and her best friend Soojin grapple with their own ethnic identities and the pressure to Americanize. Soojin is Korean American and on the pathway to citizenship. She's contemplating changing her name to solidify her American identity, while Amina, who is Pakistani American, must reconcile her love of singing Motown with her Muslim faith. Popular Emily, a white girl, who has a history of bullying, creates a wedge when she tries to befriend the pair, drawing skepticism from Amina. Things begin to unravel when Amina's uncle comes to visit from Pakistan and her deficiencies in Urdu and Arabic are exposed—along with the fact that Amina and her older brother, Mustafa, aren't necessarily the perfect children her father would like them to be. When the neighborhood mosque is vandalized, the greater community comes together. Amina's struggles to balance her faith, friendship, and aspirations are all resolved in this universal story of self-acceptance and the acceptance of others.