October 15, 2018
To: Faculty
Fr: Alex Regan, Events & Exhibitions Librarian
Re: Faculty invited to participate in UCSB Reads 2019
Dear Faculty,
Hopefully by now you have heard the announcement of the UCSB Reads 2019 book selection: The Best We Could Do, a critically acclaimed illustrated memoir by cartoonist and author Thi Bui. In it, Bui documents her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives in America.
UCSB Library invites faculty from across the disciplines to incorporate the book into your winter or spring courses. The Best We Could Do lends itself to teaching and programming around multiple topics, such as struggles of identity, Asian Americans, family relations, parenthood, violence, mental health, refugees, displacement, memoir, the graphic novel, and the legacy of the Vietnam War. The Library will provide free copies of the book to students enrolled in courses that assign all or part of the book.
The Library will also be sponsoring faculty talks, book discussions, exhibitions, film screenings, workshops, and other programs on campus and in the community from January through April 2019. Thi Bui will deliver a free public lecture in Campbell Hall on April 25, 2019. As dates are confirmed, event details will be added here. Please encourage your students to participate in UCSB Reads 2019.
If you wish to teach the book, organize or participate in programming, support UCSB Reads 2019, or if you have any questions, please contact me:
Alex Regan, Events and Exhibitions Librarian
Phone: 805-893-3605
Email: UCSBReads@library.ucsb.edu
Thank you.