UMD Selects “March: Book Three” by John Lewis for First Year Book

The University of Maryland has selected the award-winning March: Book Three by U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell as the 2017-18 First Year Book. Each year, the university selects one book to create a shared reading and intellectual experience for first-year students, faculty and staff.

UMD selects a featured book that provides an opportunity for the university community to look at a topic, issue or experience from different perspectives, from the sciences to the humanities and across diverse historical backgrounds, cultures and ideologies. The First Year Book is integrated into curriculum across disciplines, and will be used as the centerpiece of events and discussions throughout the academic year.

“At a time when our entire campus community is working to affirm our core values of unity and respect, March: Book Three shows us all how looking to the past for guidance can help make changes for good today and in the future,” said Mary Ann Rankin, UMD’s senior vice president and provost. “I look forward to the thought-provoking discussions that March will prompt in our community.”

A No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and Coretta Scott King Book Award, among many others accolades, March: Book Three is the third installment of Lewis’ graphic novel trilogy recounting his life in the Civil Rights Movement. The series is co-written with Aydin and illustrated by Powell.

“March: Book Three gives readers a first person account of many of the struggles and triumphs of the civil rights movement in a graphic text. March provides a different perspective on our nation’s history than is often found in textbooks, which is one of our goals of the First Year Book program,” said William A. Cohen, associate provost and dean for undergraduate studies. “March emphasizes ideas from the past that we still know to be true today: that change of any kind takes ongoing work, and there is always more work to be done.”

Congressman Lewis and Aydin will visit the University of Maryland to discuss the book on October 12.

Past First Year Books include Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney and Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. For more information about the First Year Book, visit http://fyb.umd.edu.