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Books that Shape Us

Monthly Highlights

Walt Whitman’s defining collection of poetry, revised multiple times during his life, that reflected his philosophy of life and humanity. His poetry reflects a focus on the material - nature, the human body, and physical sensation - in a form that broke from all prevailing rules for meter, length, and rhyme. Whitman attempted to articulate the voice of America, in particular the working class people that made it work, to remind the people of their uniquely American identity.
Contemporary Poets: The Tradition by Jericho Brown Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman Time and Materials by Robert Hass An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo Olio by Tyehimba Jess The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine Poets who were Cultural Icons: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Complete Poems 1904-1962 by e.e. cummings Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Howl by Allen Ginsberg The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes Ariel by Sylvia Plath Prose that reads like Whitman: On the Road by Jack Kerouac Suttree by Cormac McCarthy Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison The Land and Its People by David Sedaris The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Walden by Henry David Thoreau On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Previous Months
Young and wealthy Mormon Jane Withersteen is being persecuted by her community elders for her friendship with Gentiles and refusal to marry Elder Tull. Gunfighter Jim Lassiter rides into the fray, looking for the men who killed his sister Milly. He decides to help Jane protect her ranch, but the odds are stacked against them. Jane and Lassiter must navigate religion and vengeance against a powerful enemy - and they may not be able to win.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White Young Fern Arable saves a runt piglet from her father's ax who she names Wilbur. The reality of farm life means that it may only be temporary, however, and Wilbur seems destined for the dinner table. Until, that is, a true friend comes along in Charlotte A. Cavatica, an extraordinary grey barn spider
The Books that Shaped Us: February Highlight Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Fair-skinned Janie is caught kissing her shiftless neighbor at the age of 16, which prompts her Nanny to quickly marry her off into a life of security. It isn’t the love match Janie envisioned, something completely out of the imagination of her Nanny, a former slave. Janie experiences two more marriages and perseveres through poverty, domestic abuse, and societal pressures on her journey to find a greater love and purpose in her life.
January Highlight: The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Jack London’s experiences during the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon were the inspiration for The Call of the Wild. He saw the way dogsled teams behaved and how their owners treated (and mistreated) them. In the book, the dog Buck’s comfortable life is upended when gold is discovered in the Klondike. From then on, survival of the fittest becomes Buck’s mantra as he learns to confront and survive the harsh realities of his new life as a sled dog.

Previous Read-Alikes
Published before 1985: Destry Rides Again by Max Brand The Last Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone Hondo by Louis L’Amour Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry True Grit by Charles Portis Shane by Jack Schaefer The Virginian by Owen Wister Published since 2000: The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt Wounded by Percival Everett News of the World by Paulette Jiles Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison The Revenant by Michael Punke Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle Blended Genres: Open Season by C.J. Box The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey American Hippo by Sarah Gailey Canyon Sacrifice by Scott Graham The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones Berserker by Emmy Laybourne Cash by Jessica Peterson
Books that started movements: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand The Jungle by Upton Sinclair The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Books about nature: A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Our National Parks by John Muir Fuzz by Mary Roach The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan Walden by Henry David Thoreau Wilding by Isabella Tree Fictional Nature Lovers: Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson Heartwood by Amity Gaige Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver Whalefall by Daniel Kraus A River Runs Through It by Norman McLean Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy The Overstory by Richard Powers The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
You liked the animals: The Last Bear by Hannah Gold The Wild Robot by Peter Brown The Shark Caller by Zillah Bethell A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold Babe, the Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo Masterpiece by Elise Broach If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot Books tackling Tough Topics: Octopus Moon by Bobbie Pyron The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead Hoot by Carl Hiassen The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar Ghost by Jason Reynolds Hope was Here by Joan Bauer Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte You have a few more years of life: H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann Night Magic by Leigh Ann Henion How to Speak Whale by Tom Mustill Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida North Woods by Daniel Mason
If you liked the Era: Nightwood, Djuna Barnes Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner Not without Laughter, Langston Hughes Passing, Nella Larson Banana Bottom, Claude McKay The Blacker the Berry, Wallace Thurman Cane, Jean Toomer Native Son, Richard Wright If you liked exploring the nature of love: If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte Copper Sun, Countee Cullen Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera The Flatshare, Beth O’Leary Soulmates, Sarah Faeth Sanders Zora’s Legacy: Black Authors: Cursed Daughters, Oyinkan Braithwaite Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin An American Marriage, Tayari Jones The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, Ayana Mathis Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan The Color Purple, Alice Walker Seven Days in June, Tia Williams
If you liked the animal POV: The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton A Wolf called Wander by Rosanne Parry Black Beauty by Anna Sewell If you liked exploring the connection between humans and nature: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Julie and the Wolves by Jean Craighead George Old Yeller by Fred Gipson Barkskins by Annie Proulx For adventure-seekers: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi The Incredible Journy by Sheila Burnford The Twenty-Ninth Day by Alex Messenger The River of Doubt by Candice Millard

2026

2026’s Read with Your Librarian theme “The Books that Shape Us” honors America’s 250th birthday by highlighting books influential in shaping America. Titles were chosen from the list featured in the Library of Congress’ 2012 “Books that Shaped America” exhibit.

  • January: Call of the Wild by Jack London
  • February: Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  • March: Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
  • April: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
  • May: Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
  • June: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
  • July: The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, & James Madison
  • August: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • September: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  • October: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
  • November: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  • December: Our Town by Thornton Wilder

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