Enjoy this selection of reading material—fiction, nonfiction, and content for younger readers—written by Indiana University alumni, faculty, and staff, and chosen especially for IU alumni.
Fall 2025 Reading List
Fiction
The Unbroken
by C. L. Clark, MFA’17
Orbit /Hachette, 2021
On the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire, two women—a princess and a soldier—haggle over the price of a nation in this richly imagined, sapphic epic fantasy filled with rebellion, espionage, and assassinations.
Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.
Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.
Sunrise on the Reaping
by Suzanne Collins, BA’85
Scholastic Press, 2025
As the day dawns on the 50th annual Hunger Games, 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams crumble. Torn from his family and his love, he’s shuttled to the Capitol. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight … and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
Set 24 years before the events of the first Hunger Games novel, the narrative delves into themes of political manipulation, the power of propaganda, and the complexities of societal control under a totalitarian regime.
Check out Sunrise on the Reaping
See No Color
by Shannon Gibney, MA’02, MFA’03
Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner, 2015
Sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge knows two things: she has always been a stellar baseball player, and that she’s adopted.
Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a white family didn’t make much of a difference as long as she was a star on the diamond where her father—her baseball coach and a former pro player—counted on her.
But now, things are changing—she meets Reggie, the first Black guy who’s wanted to get to know her; she discovers letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her body starts to grow into a woman’s, affecting her game.
Race, adoption, and identity collide in this award-winning debut about a teen challenging the life she’s always known.
Lakewood
by Megan Giddings, MFA’18
Amistad/ HarperCollins, 2020
When Lena Johnson’s beloved grandmother dies, and the full extent of the family debt is revealed, the youngster drops out of college to support her family and takes a job in the mysterious and remote town of Lakewood, Mich.
On paper, her new job is too good to be true: high paying, no out-of-pocket medical expenses, a free place to live. All Lena has to do is participate in a secret program—research, she is told, that will change the world. But, as the truths about the program reveal themselves, Lena learns how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family.
Provocative and thrilling, Lakewood takes an unflinching look at the moral dilemmas many working-class families face, and the horror that has been forced on Black bodies in the name of science.
Homeward
by Angela Jackson-Brown (associate professor—IU Bloomington)
Harper Muse/HarperCollins, 2023
Georgia, 1962. The country is changing, and her own world is being turned upside down. Rose Perkins Bourdon returns home to Parsons, Ga., without her husband and pregnant with another man’s baby.
After tragedy strikes her husband in the war overseas, a numb Rose is left to figure out what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Her sister introduces her to a group of young people who are taking risks and fighting battles Rose has only seen on television.
Feeling newfound emotions, Rose finds herself becoming increasingly involved in the resistance efforts. She also finds herself attracted to a young man whose passion for activism stirs something in her.
Homeward follows Rose’s path toward self-discovery and growth as she becomes deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth, MFA’14
William Morrow/HarperCollins 2018
A young woman haunted by a family tragedy is caught up in a dangerous web of lies and deception involving a secret society in this highly charged psychological thriller.
One summer day, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Alistair Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year-old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.
Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie, determined to finally let go of her family’s dark past, throws herself into life at Knollwood, a prestigious New England school, where she quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s “it” crowd.
As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.
Purchase All These Beautiful Strangers
The Reign of the Kingfisher
by T.J. Martinson, PhD’21
Flatiron Books/Macmillan, 2020
Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people have been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says onscreen, unless the police admit they faked the death of the legendary superhero called the Kingfisher and ended his defense of the city 30 years ago.
Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. When the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity.
But did the Kingfisher really die? And why take hostages in the name of upholding the law? With the help of a disgraced police officer and a young hacker, Marcus explores the city’s violence, corruption, and chaos to figure out if the vigilante hero died tragically or gave up hope and abandoned the city. Meanwhile, for the hostages, the clock is ticking.
Nonfiction
Panic Now?: Tools for Humanizing
by Ira J. Allen, MA’07, PhD’14
University of Tennessee Press, 2024
When was the best time to panic about the varying crises facing humanity? Answer: Twenty years ago. But the next best time? Now.
In Panic Now?: Tools for Humanizing, Ira J. Allen takes the reader on a journey through difficult feelings about the various crises facing humanity, and from there, to new ways of facing impending dread with a sense of empowerment. The interrelated threats of climate collapse, an artificial intelligence revolution, a sixth mass extinction, a novel chemical crisis, and more are all brought to us by what Allen describes as “CaCaCo,” the carbon-capitalism-colonialism assemblage. After suggesting that it is absolutely time to panic, he asks: how do we manage to panic productively?
In the book, Allen invites us to a very particular, action-oriented mode of panic, which will incite our imaginations to move from panic to empowerment.
Check out Panic Now?: Tools for Humanizing
Urban Republican Mayor: My Story
by Greg Ballard, BA’78
Indiana University Press, 2025
Throughout his eight years as mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard did what he thought was right, looking out for the long-term health of his city with political implications being the last of his considerations.
Relying on his well-trained and efficient staff, he ensured that the city moved aggressively forward with little political interference. Ballard was not a normal politician; he was a Marine who had traveled the world, been to war, and had returned to his hometown to serve again. A rarity in American politics, Ballard was an urban Republican, moderate in views and practical in governing, and always completely dedicated to his city.
Thoughtful and brimming with insights, Greg Ballard’s inspirational story offers a compelling blueprint for American politics going forward.
Check out Urban Republican Mayor: My Story
Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President
by William Bartelt and Joshua Claybourn, BS’03, JD’06
Indiana University Press, 2019
Abraham Lincoln has long been celebrated as the savior of the Union, a proponent for emancipation, and a skilled statesman. Although Lincoln’s adult life has been well documented and analyzed, most biographers have regarded his early years as inconsequential to his career and accomplishments.
In 1920 a group of historians known as the Lincoln Inquiry strove to give Lincoln’s formative years their due. Abe’s Youth takes a look into their writings, which focus on Lincoln’s life between 7 and 21 years of age. By filling in the gaps on Lincoln’s childhood, these authors shed light on how his experiences growing up influenced the man he became.
As the first fully annotated edition of the Lincoln Inquiry papers, Abe’s Youth offers indispensable reading for anyone hoping to learn about Lincoln’s early life.
Check out Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President
A Flame Called Indiana
Edited by Doug Paul Case, MFA’14
Indiana University Press, 2023
As Kurt Vonnegut, Indiana’s most famous writer, once remarked, “Wherever you go, there is always a Hoosier doing something important there.”
A Flame Called Indiana features 65 writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have all had the pleasure of being Hoosiers at one time or another. Curated by the Indiana University Bloomington creative writing department, this diverse anthology features everything from the immigrant experience to the Indianapolis 500 to science fiction. Altogether, the work stands as testament to the vibrancy and creativity of the Hoosier state.
An important resource for creative writers, A Flame Called Indiana serves as both a chronicle of where Indiana’s writing is today and a beacon to those who’ll take it where it’s going next.
Check out A Flame Called Indiana
Canary in the Coal Mine
by William Cooke, BA’94, MD’01
Tyndale House Publishers, 2023
When Will Cooke, an idealistic young physician just out of medical training, set up practice in the small rural community of Austin, Ind., he had no idea that much of the town was being torn apart by poverty, addiction, and life-threatening illnesses.
But he soon found himself at the crossroads of two unprecedented health-care disasters: a national opioid epidemic and the worst drug-fueled HIV outbreak ever seen in rural America.
Confronted with Austin’s hidden secrets, Dr. Cooke decided he had to do something about them. In taking up the fight for Austin’s people, however, he would have to battle some unanticipated foes: prejudice, political resistance, an entrenched bureaucracy—and the dark despair that threatened to overwhelm his own soul.
Check out Canary in the Coal Mine
Heart of a Hoosier: A Year of Inspiration from IU Men’s Basketball
by Del Duduit and Michelle Medlock Adams, BA’91
Quarry Books/Indiana University Press, 2021
Five NCAA Championships, 22 Big Ten Conference Championships—this is the candy-striped legacy of the Indiana University men’s basketball team. In its 120-year history, Indiana basketball has become a giant in college hoops and earned a legion of fans.
In Heart of a Hoosier: A Year of Inspiration from IU Men’s Basketball, Del Duduit and Michelle Medlock Adams show readers how the famous moments and personalities of the Indiana Hoosiers can inspire them to reach for success, overcome adversity, be a great team member, and more.
Readers will be inspired by a year’s worth of stories featuring fierce rivalries with Purdue and Kentucky and legendary players and coaches such as Steve Alford, Isiah Thomas, Calbert Cheaney, George McGinnis, Branch McCracken, and Bobby Knight.
Check out Heart of a Hoosier: A Year of Inspiration from IU Men’s Basketball
The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives
by Kelcey Ervick (professor—IU South Bend)
Avery/Penguin Random House, 2022
The Keeper by Kelcey Ervick is a beautifully illustrated coming-of-age graphic memoir chronicling how sports shaped one young girl’s life and changed women’s history forever.
Braiding together personal narrative, pop culture, literature, and history, Ervick tells the story of how her adolescence was shaped by Title IX (enacted to little fanfare in 1972). Ervick also explores her role as a goalkeeper—a position marked by “outsider” status—and reveals the position has drawn some of the most famed writers of our time.
With wit and poignant storytelling, The Keeper brings to life forgotten figures who understood the importance of athletics to help women step into their confidence and power—and push for equality. Full of 1980s nostalgia and heart, The Keeper is a celebration of how far we have come and a reminder of how far we still have to go.
Check out The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives
Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari: 75 Years of America’s First Theme Park
by Jim Futrell, Ron Gustafson, Dave Hahner, Nell Hedge, BS’92, and Leah Koch, BAJ’13, MBA’18
Quarry Books/Indiana University Press, 2022
America’s first theme park, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, is one of the largest family-owned and -operated independent parks in the United States. For three-quarters of a century, the Koch family has launched the park into worldwide renown and national recognition.
Featuring over 100 color illustrations, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari celebrates the history of the Koch family and Santa Jim Yellig; the origins of Santa Claus, Ind.; and the early years of Santa Claus Land. The story continues with the expansion from Santa Claus Land to Holiday World, the addition of the park’s famous trio of top-ranked wooden roller coasters, and the development of Splashin’ Safari Water Park, ranked one of the top water parks in the country.
Check out Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari: 75 Years of America’s First Theme Park
Children of Steel: Short Fiction from Our Historic Steel Mill Towns
Edited by Gloria Ptacek McMillan, BA’72, MA’75
Anaphora Literary Press, 2023
In the 20th century, Central European immigrants, southern Blacks, and Latinos all sought work in the steel mills, railroads, oil refineries, and factories of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana. They settled in diverse and close-knit neighborhoods where ethnic traditions were hardcoded into everyday life.
Children of Steel is a collection of short stories and fictionalized memoir from Americans who woke up to smog-filled skies and slept through nights that flared orange whenever steel was poured at the mills. In some of the stories, the steel mills are highlighted. In others, the mills are just a backdrop.
But in all cases, these are stories that only can come from those with direct experience of being the children of steel.
Check out Children of Steel: Short Fiction from Our Historic Steel Mill Towns
We’re Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America
by Jennifer M. Silva (associate professor—IU Bloomington)
Oxford University Press, 2019
The economy has been brutal to American workers for decades and the promise of the American Dream is withering away.
Drawing on over 100 interviews with Black, white, and Latino working-class residents of a declining coal town in Pennsylvania, Jennifer M. Silva reveals how the decline of the American Dream is lived and felt. The routines and rhythms of traditional working-class life—such as manual labor, unions, marriage, church, and social clubs—have diminished. In their place, she argues, individualized strategies for coping with pain, and finding personal redemption, have themselves become sources of political stimulus and reaction among the working class.
In We’re Still Here, Silva argues that we need to uncover the relationships, loyalties, longings, and moral visions that underlie and generate the civic and political disengagement of working-class people.
Check out We’re Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America
Losing My Widow Virginity
by Patti Theil, BS’81
Patti Theil Media, 2025
When Patti Theil lost her husband in 2022, the void was unimaginable—she wondered whether she could ever overcome her loss.
Working to help others wade through grief and sadness as an author and motivational speaker, Theil counsels those in need. The one thing she learned through the grief process: doing more than treading water takes guts, laughter and, above all, humor.
Offering sage advice regarding emotions, finances, and tackling tough questions about dating, guilt, and sex, Theil provides practical solutions, ideas, and a beacon of hope for those navigating life after losing a spouse or partner.
Losing My Widow Virginity will make readers laugh and cry—and it will comfort all who choose to move on with grace, courage, and dignity.
Check out Losing My Widow Virginity
The Boy Who Loved Batman
by Michael Uslan, BA’73, MS’75, JD’76
Red Lightning Books, 2019
Meet the man whose lifelong quest to reclaim the true soul of Batman has transformed today’s comic book movies.
Growing up near Asbury Park, N.J., Michael Uslan was obsessed with comic books, and his favorite superhero was the brooding, crime-fighting vigilante, Batman. Despising the campy 1960s TV show, Uslan became determined to bring the real Batman—dark, serious, burdened by a tragic past—to the silver screen. After a 10-year quest in which every major movie studio turned him down, Uslan went on to become executive producer on every modern Batman film, beginning with Tim Burton’s widely hailed Batman in 1989.
Warmly told and inspiring, Uslan’s story is a testament both to the profound imaginative power of comic book heroes and the tenacity of the New Jersey boy determined to bring one of them to life.
For Young Hoosier Readers
Fortune’s Kiss
by Amber Clement, BS’17
Union Square & Co., 2024
For the first time in a decade, the legendary gambling den, Fortune’s Kiss, has returned to Ciudad Milagro. The game is Lotería.
As starry-eyed children, best friends Mayté and Lorena made a pact to enter the den together, but much has changed: strong, proud Mayté, sole daughter of the disgraced Robles family, dreams of becoming a famous painter, while beautiful Lo suffers at the hands of her powerful—and abusive—father.
With its return, the pair enter the mystical den. But once inside, Mayté and Lo quickly realize that beneath the marvelous glamour, the salon is hiding dangerous secrets, and the house always wins. And the game of Lotería is not the children’s game they grew up playing—it is a deadly lottery of chance.
How the World Looks to a Bee
by Don Glass, MM’63
What can you learn about your world in just a moment? Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? Or whether dogs can read our facial expressions?
Don Glass and experts in their fields answer these questions and many more. Written for readers of all ages with no background in science required, How the World Looks to a Bee is the perfect armchair companion for curious people who want to know more about the science of everyday life but have only a moment to spare.
With intriguing everyday phenomena as a starting point, this entertaining collection uses short tutorials and quick and simple experiments to invite readers to test the science for themselves. These fascinating and topical science stories will delight the curious child in everyone.
Check out How the World Looks to a Bee
You Should See Me in a Crown
by Leah Johnson, BAJ’16
Scholastic Press, 2020
Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too Black, too poor, and too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed Midwestern town. But it’s okay—Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Ind., forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down … until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen.
There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.
Check out You Should See Me in a Crown
Good Night, Indiana University
by Joey Lax-Salinas, BA’03
Indiana University Press, 2023
Good Night, Indiana University takes a whimsical journey through IU’s Bloomington campus as the sun is slowly setting.
The perfect bedtime book for IU alums and their little ones, Good Night, Indiana University whispers good night and sweet dreams to beloved campus landmarks such as the Sample Gates, Dunn’s Woods, Beck Chapel, the Campus River, and Memorial Stadium. Through lullaby-like rhymes and dream-inducing illustrations, Good Night, Indiana University is sure to become a cherished family favorite.
So “Good night cream and crimson, under the light of a crescent moon. Good night, Indiana University, in my dreams I’ll see you soon.”
Check out Good Night, Indiana University
Lin’s Uncommon Life
by Scott Shackelford, BA’05, and Emily Castle
Indiana University Press, 2023
Elinor (Lin) Ostrom’s life was an incredible journey—she was the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize in Economics. But her achievement was the culmination of a life spent struggling against the odds.
Enduring childhood hardships and being denied opportunities because she was a woman, Lin never lost sight of the wonders around her and was always curious to learn more. She would teach generations of students the lessons she learned through a lifetime of research and dedication. As she said, “Little by little, bit by bit, family by family, so much good can be done on so many levels.”
Lin’s Uncommon Life shows that small steps, taken one at a time, can lead you somewhere truly uncommon in the end.