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At age 38, blind poet Stephen Kuusisto got his first guide dog, a yellow Lab named Corky. You could say it was “love at first sight” – Corky burst into the room, put her paws on his shoulders and washed his face. It was the start of a great relationship for man and dog as they learned to navigate crowded sidewalks and cross busy streets safely. Have Dog, Will Travel is the story of Stephen’s transformation into a confident, joyful person. With Corky at his side, he visits Manhattan for the first time, rides the subway and strolls through Central Park. This is a heartwarming, beautifully written memoir of overcoming a disability with the loving help of a dog.

In The Water Is Wide, author Pat Conroy describes in evocative prose the year he spent teaching black children in a two-room schoolhouse on Yamacraw Island, a sea island off the South Carolina coast. Conroy quickly discovers that his 6th and 7th grade students can barely write or spell, don’t know what country they live in or the name of the ocean that surrounds their island. He rises to the challenge by using art, music, tape recordings of student voices, guest musicians and field trips to the mainland. His unconventional teaching methods soon get him into hot water with the school superintendent and board of education. Full of humor, pathos and anger at how our educational system fails its most vulnerable children, this book will get under your skin and change the way you think about teaching and learning.

Just Mercy is an eye-opening look at our criminal justice system through the eyes of a young lawyer who fought to overturn the conviction of an Alabama man sentenced to die for a murder he didn’t commit. Bryan Stevenson fought to prove the innocence of Walter McMillian and other death row inmates. He founded the Equal Justice Initiative to help criminals on death row as well as juveniles sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed when they were immature teenagers. This book is a moving, impassioned plea for justice leavened with mercy and compassion.