The Yavapai College Riders Read steering committee has announced a pair of closing activities around the current academic year’s common read selection as well as its choice of the book everyone at YC and the greater community will be invited to read and talk about next academic year.
The staff and faculty committee is hosting an outdoor movie screening on April 6 and sponsoring a visual art and creative writing contest in celebration of this year’s “found family” and belonging-themed novel, “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune.
All are invited to enjoy the movie, “Coraline,” which, like Klune’s fantasy novel about a group of orphans with unique physical characteristics and magical abilities, makes symbolic use of buttons. The family film screens at 7 p.m. in the amphitheater between Buildings 3 and 4 on the Prescott Campus. Popcorn and beverages will be available. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for grass seating.
Everyone in the college district also is invited to submit original artworks and/or creative writing based on the themes, characters or concepts in “The House in the Cerulean Sea.” Submissions are due by April 30 and will be displayed at the Boyd Tenney Library on the Prescott campus in May. The winner in each contest category will receive a three-credit Yavapai College scholarship. Direct electronic submissions to laura.cline@yc.edu, or in person to Room 212 in Building 3 on the Prescott Campus.
For everyone who wants to get a head start on next year’s Riders Read, here is the steering committee’s selection: “Disability Visibility,” a collection of first-person essays about living with a disability.
After reading recommended titles suggested by the public over winter break, then reviewing them together earlier this year, Riders Read Committee members chose “Disability Visibility” to foster discussion and understanding of the perspectives of people with a variety of disabilities and the people who advocate for them, said YC English Professor Laura Cline, chair of the Riders Read Committee.
Heightening awareness of the life experiences of persons with disabilities that are visible and those that are less apparent is in keeping with college strategic initiatives around learning accessibility and belonging, Cline said. “A lot of our students identify as disabled and we think this book will help with our efforts around equity and inclusion.”
Cline said Alice Wong, the book’s editor, who herself is disabled by a neuromuscular disorder, will be invited to speak at the college next fall, as will one or more of the book’s essayists. Other proposed activities around the new Rider’s Read selection are panel discussions, roundtables and a community service project in partnership with an area organization serving disabled persons.
“Disability Visibility” is available to download or check out from area libraries. Copies of the Riders Read selection likely will be distributed widely so that students, faculty, staff and community members can “make this their summer reading,” Cline said.
For additional information about the Riders Read program and events and activities around both the “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “Disability Visibility,’ visit yc.edu/ridersread
