Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Library is proud to receive the 2025 NC Reads Grant.
Free copies of the books are available through the form below while supplies last. You can also read the titles as ebooks by checking them out through Overdrive.
February 2025 – The American Queen by Vanessa Miller.
Fiction. Meet the queen of Happy Land. Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen is based on actual events that occurred between 1865 – 1889 and shares the unsung history of a Black woman who built a kingdom in Appalachia as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life. When the honorable Reverend William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to feel hope. Soon, William and Louella become the appointed king and queen of their self-proclaimed Kingdom of the Happy Land. And though they are still surrounded by opposition, they continue to share a message of joy and goodness–and fight for the freedom and dignity of all.
Join the Statewide Book Club on Feb 25, 2025 06:00 PM by registering at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Description
Join North Carolina Humanities for its first North Carolina Reads book club discussion of 2025. This discussion will examine themes and topics from the North Carolina Reads book selection The American Queen.
This discussion features Vanessa Miller in a moderated conversation. The conversation will explore themes from The American Queen.
The Library at Rowan-Cabarrus has received a grant to provide 15 copies of each of the five chosen books and will participate in this state-wide celebration through readings, events, and contests to win copies of the books.
How to Participate:
1. Get a copy of the books!
Win a copy of the books from the Rowan-Cabarrus Library. More information is in the box for each title on this page.
Check out a copy of the books from the Rowan-Cabarrus Library. We have at least one copy of each of the books either in print or eBook through our Dogwood Digital Library.
Check out a book from the local public libraries.
Buy a copy from a local book store or from an online retailer.
2. Read! Check out the reading schedule and discussion questions to guide your reading and to prepare for the events.
3. Participate in the discussion events hosted by the NC Humanities and the Rowan-Cabarrus Library.
All the events are free, but you will need to register using the link in the Events section of this page.
March 2025 - On the Swamp by Ryan E. Emanuel
Nonfiction. Environmental scientist Ryan E. Emanuel, a member of the Lumbee tribe, shares stories from North Carolina about Indigenous survival and resilience in the face of radical environmental changes. Addressing issues from the loss of wetlands to the arrival of gas pipelines, these stories connect the dots between historic patterns of Indigenous oppression and present-day efforts to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights on the swamp. Emanuel’s scientific insight and deeply personal connections to his home blend together in a book that is both a heartfelt and an analytical call to acknowledge and protect sacred places.
Register at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Date & Time Mar 31, 2025 06:00 PM
Description
Join North Carolina Humanities for its second North Carolina Reads book club discussion of 2025. This discussion will examine themes and topics from the North Carolina Reads book selection On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice. This discussion features Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel in a moderated conversation. The conversation will explore themes from On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice.
April 2025 – Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia's Search for Resilience by Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre
Nonfiction. Depictions of Appalachian food culture and practices often romanticize people in the region as good, simple, and, often, white. These stereotypes are harmful to the actual people they are meant to describe as well as to those they exclude. In Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience, Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre tell a more complicated story. The authors embark on a cultural tour through food and drinking establishments to investigate regional resilience in and through the plurality of traditions and communities that form the foodways of Southern Appalachia.
Register at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Date & Time Apr 28, 2025 06:00 PM
Description
Join North Carolina Humanities for its third North Carolina Reads book club discussion of 2025. This discussion will examine themes and topics from the North Carolina Reads book selection Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia's Search for Resilience This discussion features Dr. Ashli Quesinberry and Dr. Wendy Atkins-Sayre in a moderated conversation. The conversation will explore themes from Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia's Search for Resilience.
May 2025 – The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church.
Fiction. It’s the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina. Yet every time she looks through her father’s telescope, she dreams of the stars. But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she’s forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded. To hide their daughter’s secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven – it’s a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she has the power to fight for the future she wants or if she must submit to the rules of a society she once admired.
Register at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Date & Time May 28, 2025 06:00 PM
Description
Join North Carolina Humanities for its fourth North Carolina Reads book club discussion of 2025. This discussion will examine themes and topics from the North Carolina Reads book selection The Girls We Sent Away. This discussion features Meagan Church in a moderated conversation. The conversation will explore themes from The Girls We Sent Away.
June 2025 – Doc Watson: A Life in Music by Eddie Huffman.
Nonfiction. A musician’s musician, Doc grew up on a subsistence farm in the North Carolina mountains during the Depression, soaking up traditional music and learning to play guitar even though he was blind. Rising to fame in the 1960s as part of the burgeoning folk revival scene, Doc became the face of traditional music for many listeners, racking up multiple Grammys and releasing dozens of albums over the course of his long career. Eddie Huffman tells the story of Doc’s life and legacy, drawing on extensive interviews and hundreds of hours of archival research. Full of fascinating stories—from Doc’s first banjo made from his grandmother’s cat to the founding of MerleFest—this promises to be the definitive biography of the man and how he came to be synonymous with roots music in America and shows how his influence is still felt in music today.
Register at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Date & Time Jun 24, 2025 06:00 PM
Description
Join North Carolina Humanities for its fifth and final North Carolina Reads book club discussion of 2025. This discussion will examine themes and topics from the North Carolina Reads book selection Doc Watson: A Life in Music. This discussion features Eddie Huffman in a moderated conversation. The conversation will explore themes from Doc Watson: A Life in Music.
Please note that selected books are intended for readers 18 and over and may not be suitable for some audiences.
North Carolina Reads is made possible in part by “A More Perfect Union”, a special initiative grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
