The NEHS Advisory Council is seeking recommendations for the Common Reader for the 2026-2027 school year. The texts, fiction or nonfiction, should be of sufficient challenge to engage rising seniors in critical thinking and to prompt excellent written analysis.
What books have you or your NEHS members read recently that made you think, moved you, or filled you with wonder?
Recommendations may be prose (fiction in any genre or nonfiction), collections of poetry, drama, or graphic novels; we tend not to select from the classics, works commonly found in the high school literature canon, or texts that have been translated into film. We are particularly interested in selecting works that highlight underrepresented communities and that give student members the opportunity to learn about other cultures and social groups, and texts that do not follow conventional novel structure.
Learn more about the 2025-2026 Common Readers, Angie Cruz’s How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water and Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, and our previous selections.
Please send your suggestions, including a few sentences explaining your rationale for recommending the text, to Christopher Lockwood at ctlockwood@niu.edu before February 14, 2026.
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