HSDC Continuing Education Program

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

Nineteen Minutes is a Jodi Picoult novel about a school shooting in the fictional town of Sterling, New Hampshire, exploring themes of bullying, prejudice, and community reaction through the trial of shooter Peter Houghton, a former friend of popular girl Josie Cormier, whose testimony is crucial but conflicted. The story delves into the aftermath of the 19-minute tragedy, examining justice, memory, and the societal pressures that lead to violence, featuring returning characters like lawyer Jordan McAfee and detective Patrick Ducharme. (1.03 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 10 short easy questions, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

Brave New World is a classic dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1932, that depicts a futuristic World State where citizens are genetically engineered, socially conditioned, and drugged into a caste system to ensure stability and conformity, challenging traditional human values like freedom and individuality through characters like the outsider John the Savage. The story explores themes of technology, social control, and the cost of a seemingly utopian society, remaining highly relevant today as a warning against mass entertainment, consumerism, and psychological manipulation. (0.82 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 13 short essay response questions, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Na**sm, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.

On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come. (0.55 PPO-Professional Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 14 short essay questions, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: is a timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited. (0.867 PPO-Professional Studies)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 13 short essay response question, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography, the first in a series, detailing her early life from age three to seventeen, focusing on overcoming childhood trauma, racism, and abandonment in the American South through literature and self-discovery. It's a coming-of-age story that explores themes of identity, resilience, and the power of words, becoming a classic for its candid portrayal of abuse and prejudice. (0.73 PPO-Professional Studies CEUs)

Project Requirement: Read the book and answer 10 short essay questions totaling a 3,000 word minimum response.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

The Handmaid's Tale is a 1985 dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood set in the totalitarian, patriarchal Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, where fertile women (Handmaids) are forced into reproductive servitude to repopulate a declining population. Told through the eyes of the protagonist, Offred, the story explores themes of female disempowerment, loss of identity, and the subjugation of reproductive rights, serving as a cautionary tale about how current societal trends could lead to extreme oppression. The novel has been adapted into a film, an opera, and a popular television series, with a sequel, The Testaments, published in 2019. (0.88 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirement: Read the book and answer 10 short essay questions totaling a 3,000 word minimum response.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Popular Culture Series.

Project Hail Mary is a 2021 hard science fiction novel by Andy Weir about Ryland Grace, an amnesiac astronaut who wakes up alone on a spaceship millions of miles from Earth with a mission to save humanity from an extinction-level threat. The story follows him as he pieces together his memories and uses science to solve an impossible problem, with the help of an unexpected alien companion. Praised for its humor, scientific accuracy, and engaging narrative, it's a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. (0.93 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 14 short essay questions, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

The Martian by Andy Weir is a science fiction novel about astronaut Mark Watney, who is stranded alone on Mars after his crew presumes him dead and evacuates during a storm. Told largely through his log entries, the story follows his struggle to survive using his botany and engineering skills to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, while NASA and his crew work to mount a rescue mission. The book is praised for its scientific realism, humor, and focus on problem-solving, and was adapted into a major film starring Matt Damon. (0.82 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 14 short essay questions, totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

Find it on our website at www.hsdcceu.org *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a 2001 book by Barbara Ehrenreich, a work of undercover journalism where she lived and worked low-wage jobs (waitress, maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Walmart employee) to expose the struggles of the working poor in the U.S. She discovered that these jobs are physically and mentally demanding, require more than one job to survive, and that low-wage workers face a constant, anxious struggle to make ends meet, challenging the idea that these jobs are "unskilled" and easily accessible. The book became a classic, fueling discussions on poverty, labor, and the American dream. (0.675 PPO-Professional Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and answer 10 short essay questions totaling a 3,000 word minimum response.

Find it on our website *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899) follows Edna Pontellier, a stifled 19th-century wife and mother who experiences a profound awakening of personal autonomy, sexuality, and artistic passion while vacationing on Grand Isle, Louisiana. The story explores topics of power and privilege through the characters struggle against late 19th-century patriarchal constraints and domesticity, navigating her desire for autonomy against societal conformity. Her journey highlights the interplay of gendered power, white privilege, and the personal cost of pursuing self-discovery outside traditional marriage and motherhood roles. The novel is considered a classic of early feminist literature, exploring the conflict between individual freedom and societal roles. (0.63 General Studies)

Project Requirements: Read the book and answer 13 short essay questions totaling a 3,000 word response.

Available on our CEU Catalog *Link in Bio*

NEW CEU Project! This is part of our Banned & Challenge Book Series.

Educated: is a 2018 memoir by American author Tara Westover. Westover recounts overcoming her survivalist Mormon family in order to go to college and emphasizes the importance of education in enlarging her world. She details her journey from her isolated life in the rural mountains of Clifton, Idaho to completing a PhD program in history at the University of Cambridge. She started college at 17 having had no formal education. She explores her struggle to reconcile her desire to learn with the world she inhabited with her father. (0.9 General Studies CEUs)

Project Requirements: Read the book and respond to 10 essay questions totaling a 3,000 word minimum.

Find it on our website at www.hsdcceu.org *Link in Bio*