One Book, One College

One Book, One College is a college- and community-wide reading program with the goal of fostering a community that encourages reading for pleasure, critical thinking, global awareness, and multicultural understanding.

One Book, One College is a college- and community-wide reading program with the goal of fostering a community that encourages reading for pleasure, critical thinking, global awareness, and multicultural understanding.

Each year the One Book, One College (OBOC) committee chooses one special book to be read by students, faculty, staff, and the community at large. Workshops, discussions, lectures, and/or other related activities are organized around the selected book throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. Faculty are encouraged to incorporate the “One Book” into their classes across the curriculum.

The program’s highlight is the much-anticipated annual author visit to RCSJ’s Cumberland campus. OBOC invites community members to read its selection and welcomes them to attend the annual author visit and book signing on a first-come, first-served basis.

2025–2026 One Book: The Essay by Robin Yocum

Set in 1970s Appalachian Ohio, Robin Yocum’s novel, The Essay, tells the story of a teenager born into poverty and hopelessness, seemingly destined to repeat the failures of generations of men in his family. At its heart is a reaffirmation of it is often the silenced voice that is the most powerful, and, as its title suggests, it is today’s much-beleaguered essay that is this story’s second unlikely hero.

Robin Yocum is the Edgar-nominated author known for his fiction set in the Ohio River Valley. His latest novel, The Last Hitman, is set to be released in December 2025 by Crooked Lane Books. book signing will follow.

Meet the Author!

An Evening with Robin Yocum is sponsored by RCSJ, One Book, One College and the Cumberland County Educational Foundation. 

An Evening with Robin Yocum, Live and In-Person

Wed., October 22, 2025, at 7 p.m.
Guarancini Fine & Performing Arts Center, Cumberland campus

The event is free and open to RCSJ faculty, students, staff, and the community at large.

The Essay is available from RCSJ’s Barnes & Noble Bookstores and other major booksellers, and is sure to elicit important conversations on prejudice, friendship, integrity, family, education, and remaining true to oneself even in the most dire circumstances.

  • Josh Austin, Assistant Professor of English, Cumberland
  • Erin Brabazon, Professor of English, Gloucester
  • Danielle Carroll, community representative
  • Judy Cirucci
  • Anya Cronin, Professor of English, Gloucester
  • Toni DiTomo, Professor/Coordinator Developmental English, Cumberland
  • Yolanda Garcia Balicki, Esq., RCSJ Board of Trustees Member
  • Kelly Hayden, Librarian, Cumberland
  • Sharon Kewish, Past Chair, Professor Emeritus - English
  • Maria LeBlanc, Executive Director, Cumberland Campus Educational Foundation
  • Susan Nardelli, Special Assistant to the President-Institutional Advancement
  • Sandra Reid, Professor of Nursing, Cumberland
  • Meredith Vicente, Director of Special Services, Cumberland

  • 2024-2025 The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton
  • 2023-2024 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  • 2022-2023 The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
  • 2021-2022 The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
  • 2020-2021 Maid by Stephanie Land
  • 2019-2020 Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
  • 2018-2019 The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff
  • 2017-2018 The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
  • 2016-2017 Remember Me Like This by Bret Anthony Johnston
  • 2015-2016 The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
  • 2014-2015 Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan
  • 2013-2014 A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls Lanier
  • 2012-2013 Faithless by Joyce Carol Oates
  • 2011-2012 Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario
  • 2010-2011 The Soloist by Steve Lopez
  • 2009-2010 Strong Medicine Speaks by Amy Hill Hearth
  • 2008-2009 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
  • 2007-2008 Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell
  •  2006-2007 Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  • 2005-2006 My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  • 2004-2005 The Color of Water by James McBride

Instructors who plan to incorporate the book into their classrooms may request an instructor copy and a discussion guide/resource packet by emailing Judy at [email protected]. Instructor copies are limited and will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis.

To nominate a work of fiction or a memoir for the One Book, One College committee's consideration, please email Judy at [email protected].

For assistance please contact:

One Book, One College
Judy Cirucci, OBOC Committee Chair
856-200-4603
[email protected]