All Community Read

Experience the power of shared reading alongside educators, students, and community members through our annual All Community Read.

George Takei is a Japanese American actor, New York Times bestselling author, social justice activist, and survivor of US-run World War II internment camps.

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Read Along With Us

Literature has the power to nurture our capacity for empathy and to strengthen our communities. Our All Community Read events harness this power and bring together people from across our network — educators, students, staff, and supporters — to build shared understanding, create a shared experience, and open up conversations that connect to our mission and work.

They Called Us Enemy

For the 2023-2024 school year, we have selected George Takei’s memoir, They Called Us Enemy, as the text for our All Community Read. Throughout the year we will be hosting a series of events and sharing resources, including a discussion guide, to support bringing Takei’s story into classrooms.

This graphic memoir from actor, author, and activist George Takei recounts his childhood incarcerated in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.
Check availability for digital copies of the book.

It seems important for a nation to know about its glorious achievements, but also to know where its ideals failed in order to keep that from happening again.

— George Takei

Learning for Everyone

We will be offering professional learning events for educators and special virtual discussions for students, supporters, and members of our learning community throughout the year to support this All Community Read, including an online author event with George Takei on February 13, 2024. Register now.

Guide

This guide will support your school community as you read the graphic memoir of actor and activist George Takei.

A teacher discusses a reading with her students.

Guide

This planning guide will help you design and implement a Whole-School Read that centers students’ voices and experiences.

Blue and purple toned books, view from above

Lesson

Students analyze monuments to Japanese American incarceration and consider the purpose and emotional impact of these monuments.

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Lesson

Students contrast the language that the US government used to describe Japanese incarceration in the 1940s with the language recommended by contemporary survivors’ groups.

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Members Of The Mochida Family Awaiting Evacuation

Collection

Developed for grades 6–12, this modular collection invites students to explore the complexity of identity and develop a sense of agency as they reflect on what it means to grow up in the world today.

A high school student shares their thoughts during a school workshop.

Activity

Students explore the complexity and fluidity of identity, both in the world of the text and in their own lives.

Two female students engage in classroom discussion.

Activity

Students practice using evidence from the text and their own understanding of the world to analyze a character’s thoughts, feelings, motivations, and sense of belonging.

Activity

Students explore the concept of “universe of obligation” within the contexts of a work of literature and their own lives.

Guide

This planning guide will support your school community as you read the memoir of Judy Heumann, one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history.

Guide

Teach a unit on Jacqueline Woodson's coming-of-age memoir in verse that invites students to reflect on their own experiences and identities.

A girl leans against a wall while reading a book.

Guide

This guide provides activities and discussion questions for leading your students through a six-week reading of Enrique's Journey that explores themes of identity, belonging, and choices.

Guide

Get tips for planning your whole-school read of the young adult novel Wonder. This guide provides direction on how to structure classroom discussions and includes pre- and post-reading activities. It also features a "write your own precept" template for use in a final school-wide activity.

The All Community Read is made possible by:

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Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Watch this conversation with journalist and author Eli Saslow to learn how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the streets of Charlottesville and beyond.

Chalk on bricks on the sidewalk that says "End White Supremacy"

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Oct 15, 2021

Learn about the history and debate surrounding how we describe Latinx and Hispanic peoples, and consider the relationship between language and identity.

A dictionary page open to the definition of "Latino".

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Nov 10, 2021

Members of our staff are exploring these five new books published written by a group of Indigenous authors across North America for readers ages 12 and up and we invite you to explore them alongside us. These texts address themes including Indigenous youth navigating adolescent identity, community, and resistance.

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

May 10, 2022

Learn about the history behind Gay-Straight alliance student groups and GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Oct 28, 2021

Learn about the risks new technologies pose to adults and adolescents and view resources available to help teach teenage students about media literacy, responsible use of social media, and surveillance capitalism.

A person views a piece of news media on their phone.

Impact Story

by Kaitlin Smith

Sep 30, 2021

New Haven Academy is an innovative public high school that serves a diverse student population. In this interview, the school's founders discuss the vital role that Facing History has played in shaping their distinctive school culture, curriculum, and pedagogy.

Perspective

by Kaitlin Smith

Oct 25, 2021

Archives play a central role in shaping our perceptions of the past. It is vital that we ask critical questions about what a given archive may exclude, for what purposes it was assembled, and what this means about the stories it enables historians to tell.

A book with worn blank pages sits open-faced.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Learn effective strategies to share with your students so that during the summer they can better listen, empathize and engage in the world around them.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

In this webinar, we shared how Facing History works at the intersection of social-emotional learning and academics, informed by civic engagement and equity and justice. We provided resources and strategies for you to consider integrating these four elements in your school or classroom.

Two students discuss and look at a paper

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Conspiracy theories provide simple and misleading explanations for complex human dilemmas. We must learn to recognize the antisemitism that fuels some of today’s most destructive conspiracy theories so we can help our students stand up against these pervasive and dangerous messages.

Thousands of people participate in No Hate, No Fear Jewish Solidarity March in response to anti-semitic attacks in and around city across Brooklyn Bridge

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Explore questions of identity and belonging in literature and life and learn how you can center students' identities and experiences through literature and dialogue.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Explore ways to critically examine your identity as an educator, examine teaching strategies to build community and trust, and share methods to facilitate reflective conversations.

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All Community Read

About the Author

Read Along With Us

They Called Us Enemy

They Called Us Enemy

Learning for Everyone

Sponsored By

The All Community Read is made possible by:

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All Community Read

About the Author

About the Author

Read Along With Us

They Called Us Enemy

They Called Us Enemy

They Called Us Enemy

Learning for Everyone

Teaching George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy and Japanese American Incarceration

Resources for the Classroom

They Called Us Enemy All-Community Read Guide

Whole-School Read Guide: Foster a Literacy Community

Monuments to Japanese American Incarceration

Words Matter: Listening to Survivors about Language for Describing Japanese American Incarceration

Coming of Age in a Complex World

Exploring Identity in Literature and Life

Map the Internal World of a Character

Reflecting on Our Obligation to Others

Past All Community Reads