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Fiction

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

by Ralph Ellison

by Ernest J. Gaines

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolf

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving

Any book by Leo Tolstoy

by Bryce Courtenay

by J. Nozipo Maraire

Nonfiction

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

The Call of Stories and The Call of Service by Robert Coles

Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

On Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address and Gettysburg address

by Shirley Sagawa and Deborah Jospin

by Stephen Goldsmith

by Allison Fine

The Blue Sweater by Jaqueline Novogratz

Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof

The Spirit of Service

Be the Change by Lisa Endlich

by Michelle Nunn

The Aid Trap by Glenn Hubbard

Give a Little by Wendy Smith

by Joan Hecht

by Marian Wright Edelman

by Jonathan Kozol

and by Paul Rogat Loeb

by Julia Butterfly Hill

by Arundhati Roy

by Lisa Delpit

by Audre Lorde

by Elie Wiesel

The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo

Megacommunities: How Leaders of Government, Business, and Non-Profits Can Tackle Today’s Global Challenges Together by Mark Gerencser, et. al.

The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World by Anne-Marie Slaughter

Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier

Living, Leading, and the American Dream by John W. Gardner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas by Matt Miller

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies by Scott E Page

The World is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy by David M. Smick

Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by James Gustave Speth

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

Children’s Books

The spirit of giving often is instilled at a very young age, and children’s books can provide a lifelong reservoir of inspiration.  Whether you are young or old, these timeless stories will touch you.

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott

Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger, illustrated by Michael Hays

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, illustrated by Garth Williams

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

by Jane Goodall

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

It Could Always be Worse by Margot Zemach

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

Miss Fannie’s Hat by Jan Karon, Illustrated by Toni Goffe

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Clooney

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Old Turtle by Douglas Wood, illustrated by Cheng-Khee Chee

On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier

Stone Soup by Jon J Muth