READ@PolyU is a campus-wide common reading programme designed to help foster a reading culture across the University. A free copy of the common book will be distributed to all PolyU full-time first-year undergraduate degree students. To create a sense of community for freshman, a series of activities such as discussion sessions, book talks and an essay contest will also be organized to enhance the reading experience.
All PolyU staff and students are now invited to make suggestions for the common book in 2016. The Programme Committee will review each submission prior to making a final selection.
To encourage participation, 50 copies of the selected common book will be given out in a lucky draw. PolyU students and staff who have submitted a book title will be automatically enrolled into the lucky draw. Winners will be notified by email in May.
Below please find the criteria for the selection of the common book which guide the Programme Committee in making their choice, as well as several sample titles recommended by PolyU staff and students in 2015.
Please submit your favourite book titles with author to lbread@polyu.edu.hk by
29 Feb 2016 (Monday). There is no limit to the number of book titles you can submit.
Submit now and win a book!
READ@PolyU 2016: Recommendation on the common book
A. Criteria for common book selection
- The book will be in English, preferably less than 300 pages
- It should be engaging for the PolyU community (both Faculty and students)
- It should be accessible, not difficult to read
- It should appeal to students’ imagination, and should include some elements of exploration of and reflection on multi-cultural issues
- It should preferably have been adapted for film
- It should preferably have won international and critical acclaim
- Ideally, the author would be available to visit PolyU
B. Sample titles suggested by staff and students in 2015
- To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee
- If I Stay / Gayle Forman
- The Fault in Our Stars / John Green
- The Alchemist / Paulo Coelho
- The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald