We the People “Pursuit of Happiness” Bookshelf

Cole

When the Humanities Endowment four years ago launched We the People at the president’s direction, our aim was to inspire the best in citizenship by reinvigorating the teaching, study, and understanding of America’s founding ideals. Central to this mission was recognizing that as citizens, we are bound not by blood, land, or birth, but by the shared values of which Jefferson spoke in the Declaration of Independence. Through innovative new programs and grants, We the People has reached millions of Americans. Documentaries and museum exhibitions have dazzled audiences, winning awards and national recognition. Our Landmarks of American History program has brought more than six thousand school teachers and community college professors to America’s most storied sites where they have studied alongside scholars and brought those lessons back to their classrooms.

Thanks to lasting partnerships with the American Library Association and the McCormick Tribune Foundation, our We the People Bookshelf program has delivered free sets of classic literature chronicling the American story to more than four thousand public and school libraries. For the last three years, this learning tool has sparked discussion and brought together teachers, students and community leaders by focusing on themes central to our identity as Americans. Themes for past bookshelves have included “Freedom,” “Courage,” and “Becoming American.” With this in mind, I am proud to announce that the theme of our coming year’s We the People Bookshelf will be “The Pursuit of Happiness.” From Willa Cather’s vivid depiction of an immigrant farmer’s struggle to build a future for her family in the classic O Pioneers! to Jacob Lawrence’s breathtaking images of African Americans seeking a better life in the North in The Great Migration, these stories transcend background and have the power to engage, include, and inspire.

The story of America, to be sure, is an imperfect one. For many, the basic rights Jefferson enumerated in the Declaration would come only after years of struggle and hardship. It is a chapter that still haunts, and from which we continue to draw wisdom and perspective. But just as our story instructs, it ultimately inspires. For the first time in modern history, a person’s future would be determined not by caste, nor creed, nor religion, but by merit, hard work, and ingenuity. It would be a future filled with uncertainty, but also unbridled possibility. Happiness was never guaranteed, but the liberty to seek it would be unhampered.

In addition to Cather’s and Lawrence’s work, other titles in this year’s “Pursuit of Happiness Bookshelf” include:

• Grades K-3
  • Aesop, Aesop’s Fables. A lazy grasshopper, a greedy mouse, and a plodding tortoise learn that wise and prudent actions lead to happiness and a good life in this classically illustrated edition.
  • Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. A poet rejoices in the quiet solitude of nature, while honoring his ties to people and other places. Beautiful illustrations bring the poem to life.
  • Virginia Lee Burton, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. In this classic tale of loyalty and persistence, a man and his steam shovel find their place in a changing world.
• Grades 4-6
  • Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting. Winnie Foster can choose her fate: live, grow up, and finally leave the world, or stay in it forever, young and unchanging.
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years. The winters are cold, independence is frightening, and work is hard. Still, family, friends, songs, and new love make for a good life on the prairie.
  • Laurence Yep, Journal of Wong Ming-Chung. A young Chinese immigrant and his uncle learn that the “Golden Mountain” is just a dream; but there may be other ways to prosper and forge a new life in California.
• Grades 7-8
  • Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin enter a fantastic world in search of a missing scientist, stretching the fabric of time and space in a journey of self-discovery.
  • Pam Muñoz Ryan, Esperanza Rising. Calamity befalls the Ortega family in Mexico, and their new life in California is far from easy. Esperanza learns what it means never to be afraid to start again.
  • Jean Lee Latham, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. Young Nat Bowditch pursues his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, gains mastery of navigation and astronomy, and makes his mark on the world.
• Grades 9-12
  • Octavia Butler, Kindred. Yanked back in time to the antebellum South, Dana shares in the powers and the perils lived daily by her African American and white ancestors.
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. In this story of romance and intrigue set in 1920s New York, Jay Gatsby is a wealthy, powerful, and successful man. But has he achieved happiness?
  • Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Praising nature, democracy, and the human spirit, one of our nation’s greatest poets invites us to hear America singing.
  • Thomas Paine, Common Sense. From this rousing pamphlet that helped ignite patriotic passion in 1776, we can glimpse what the pursuit of happiness meant to the Revolutionary generation.