Welcome to the HCC's Northeast College Libraries' Annual Reading Challenge page.
Spring 2025 Challenges from Northeast College Libraries
begin Thursday January 2, 2025 and end Saturday May 31, 2025
The Short of It (January), Ebonrary (February), Alphabet Soup (March), Roses are Red (April), & Mayday (May) monthly challenges to earn HCC freebies and raffle entries for prizes will be available during Spring 2025 for students at Acres Homes, Automotive Technology Training Center, Northline, Northeast, or North Forest campuses.
Each challenge will be published on the first of each month. Students may opt to receive timely email/calendar reminders of upcoming challenges and deadlines, if they wish, by completing this webform. 
Begins May 1, 2025 | Ends May 31, 2025
"Mayday" Challenge (May)
Read a book, in either print or digital format, (including audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, or novellas) written or illustrated by an Asian, Asian-American, or Pacific Islander OR centering Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander voice(s) or stories.
Tip #1: You can live chat with an HCC librarian for recommendations and/or check out our AANHPI Heritage Month page or Speed Reads page for possibilities.
Respond in 200 words or less, tell us why you chose this title, whether you’d recommend it to your peers, how many stars you would rate it (out of 5) and what you liked most or least about it. Use the sample paper available to download below the three arrows to guide you.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L.
Reward: An HCC swag item or freebie, and one (1) library raffle prize entry for the drawing at the end of the month. Students will be notified of the raffle drawing outcome no later than Saturday June 7, 2025 and must claim their freebie (or prize) at an HCC Northeast College library location of their choosing.
Deadline: This challenge must be completed by or on Saturday May 31, 2025.
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- "Mayday" Challenge Sample PaperThis paper is a guiding example for student formatting of their submission before turning it in.
Rewards: An HCC swag item or freebie, and one (1) library raffle prize entry for the drawing at the end of the month. Students will be notified of the raffle drawing outcome no later than Saturday June 7, 2025 and must claim their freebie (or prize) at an HCC Northeast College library location of their choosing.
Deadline: This challenge must be completed by or on Saturday May 31, 2025 at 11:59pm CT.
Qualifying students who successfully complete all five (5) Spring 2025 Challenges will receive a digital Certificate of Achievement from HCC's Northeast College Libraries at their HCC student email address and will be entered into a bonus raffle prize drawing!
- HCC's Northeast College Libraries' Annual Reading Challenge Flyer (Spring 2025)
Northeast College faculty, staff, and students can download the flyer by clicking on the title or thumbnail.
Summer 2025 Challenges from Northeast College Libraries
begin Sunday June 1, 2025 and end Sunday August 5, 2025
Currently registered HCC students can complete monthly challenges to earn monthly HCC swag items. The best submission for each monthly challenge will receive a prize. The program is for students at Acres Homes, Automotive Technology Training Center, Northline, Northeast, and North Forest campuses.
Each challenge will be published on the first of each month. Students may opt to receive timely email/calendar reminders of upcoming challenges and deadlines, if they wish, by completing this webform.
- HCC NECL Annual Reading Challenge - Summer 2025 - Flyer
Northeast College faculty, staff, and students can download the flyer by clicking on the title or thumbnail.
Read, Prepare, and Attend (Part I)
Read (at least) one of the first seven (7) short stories (i.e. "Afterglow," "The Cloud Weaver's Song," "Tidings," "A Worm to the Wise," "A Séance in the Anthropocene," "The Tree in the Back Yard," or "When It's Time to Harvest") from the HCC Libraries' Summer 2025 Virtual Book Club anthology eBook selection: Afterglow: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.
Tip #1: If you prefer an eAudiobook experience rather than an eBook, the publisher offers streaming audio of each story online at https://grist.org/imagine2200-climate-fiction-2021.
Prepare for the story discussion by having at least three (3) of these questions answered after you've read your short story:
(a) Find out the meaning of: CliFi, Afrofuturism, hopepunk, and solarpunk. Which of these terms apply to your short story selection, if any? Why or why not? Include in-text citations.
(b) Find information about the short story's author online. Did what you learn impact how you viewed the story? Include in-text citations.
(c) Did you connect to anything about the story? Why or why not?
(d) What did you find most interesting, remarkable, or difficult about the story? And why?
Attend (at least) one of the Summer Virtual Book Club discussions taking place between Monday June 9 through Wednesday July 2, 2025 that corresponds to your chosen short story from Afterglow.
Reflect and Respond (Part II)
Write the three questions you chose and how you responded prior to attending the book discussion.
Now respond with whether and how your impression of the story changed, or identify any new insights you gained from the book discussion after attending.
Your entire written submission should fall within 250-500 words and employ MLA Style, 9th edition. Use the sample paper available to download below the three arrows to guide you.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L.
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- Summer I Challenge Sample PaperThis paper is a guiding example for student formatting of their submission before turning it in.
Reward: An HCC swag item or freebie is available to students who submit a qualifying submission, and one (1) prize entry to be judged at the end of the 5-week challenge. Students will be notified if their submission was the chosen winner no later than Sunday July 13, 2025 and must claim their freebie (or prize) at an HCC Northeast College library location of their choosing.
Deadline: This challenge must be completed by or on Sunday July 6, 2025.
→→→ Click here to submit your work entry for the Summer I Challenge. ←←←
Read, Prepare, and Attend (Part I)
Read (at least) one of the last five (5) short stories (i.e. "Broken From the Colony," "The Case of the Turned Tide," "El, The Plastrotrophs, and Me," "Canvas-Wax-Moon," "The Secrets of the Last Greenland Shark") from the HCC Libraries' Summer 2025 Virtual Book Club anthology eBook selection: Afterglow: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.
Tip #1: If you prefer an eAudiobook experience rather than an eBook, the publisher offers streaming audio of each story online at https://grist.org/imagine2200-climate-fiction-2021.
Prepare for the story discussion by having at least three (3) of these questions answered after you've read your short story:
(a) Find out the meaning of: CliFi, Afrofuturism, hopepunk, and solarpunk. Which of these terms apply to your short story selection, if any? Why or why not? Include in-text citations.
(b) Find information about the short story's author online. Did what you learn impact how you viewed the story? Include in-text citations.
(c) Did you connect to anything about the story? Why or why not?
(d) What did you find most interesting, remarkable, or difficult about the story? And why?
Attend (at least) one of the Summer Virtual Book Club discussions taking place between Monday July 7 through Monday August 4, 2025 that corresponds to your chosen short story from Afterglow.
Reflect and Respond (Part II)
Write the three questions you chose and how you responded prior to attending the book discussion.
Now respond with whether and how your impression of the story changed, or identify any new insights you gained from the book discussion after attending.
Your entire written submission should fall within 250-500 words and employ MLA Style, 9th edition. Use the sample paper available to download below the three arrows to guide you.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L.
↓↓↓
- Summer I Challenge Sample PaperThis paper is a guiding example for student formatting of their submission before turning it in.
Reward: An HCC swag item or freebie is available to students who submit a qualifying submission, and one (1) prize entry to be judged at the end of the 5-week challenge. Students will be notified if their submission was the chosen winner no later than Sunday August 10, 2025 and must claim their freebie (or prize) at an HCC Northeast College library location of their choosing.
Deadline: This challenge must be completed by or on Tuesday August 5, 2025.
→→→ Click here to submit your work entry for the Summer II Challenge. ←←←
Academic Integrity Notice
Student submitted work demonstrating evidence of plagiarism or academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, the use of generative A.I., will be disqualified.
Past
Read one (1) essay or short story, in either print or digital format, originally published in the 21st century (i.e. January 1, 2001 or later) available through HCC Libraries or Open Access Open Access icon.
Tip #1: You may find it helpful to email HCC librarians at ask@hccs.libanswers.com to request a short list of options to choose from with your preferences (Example Queries: “I really like fantasy fiction and need help finding a short story in that genre to read.” or “I want to find an inspirational essay to read, can you help me find one?" or "Can you help me find either an essay or short story to read that's related to sports? It needs to be from the 21st century.”), but don't forget to mention the publishing date requirement. Please allow at least 1 business day for a librarian response. You may find good options at our Speed Reads page.
Respond by identifying a particular passage that resonated with you and explain briefly in 1-3 sentences why you chose the passage.
Technical Guidelines: [A] Perform direct, block quoting of your selelcted passage. [B] Use MLA Style, 9th edition formatting for your page, in-text citation, and bibliographic citation under the Work Cited heading at the end. The Work Cited section does not need to be a separate page due to the assignment's brevity. Use our sample paper available for download to guide your work
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance (on the Citing Books & eBooks page, the guidance for "A chapter, essay, or section of an ebook" may be helpful to many of you relying on those source types; or check Purdue University's O.W.L. (the subsection "A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection" may be helpful to many of you relying on those source types.)
Read a book, in either print or digital format, (including audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, or novellas) written by a Black author OR centering Black voice(s) or stories.
Tip #1: Students can find qualifying books at our library's Black History Month page, Black Stories/Black Voices page, and Juneteenth page or even review options at our Speed Reads page. Students may enjoy books honored by BCALA Literary Awards, ALA's Coretta Scott King Book Awards, NCSS's Carter G. Woodson Awards, OCM Bocas Prizes for Caribbean Literature, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, Essence Literary Awards, Phillis Wheatley Awards, Ernest J. Gaines Awards for Literary Excellence, or the NAACP Image Awards for Literature as inspiring possibilities. You can perform a book Title search in our Library Catalog or live chat with an HCC librarian for help!
Respond by identifying a particular passage that you found poignant, inspiring, or challenging and explain in 1-3 sentences why.
Technical Guidelines: [A] Perform direct, block quoting of your selected passage. [B] Use MLA Style, 9th edition formatting for your page, in-text citation, and bibliographic citation under the Work Cited heading at the end. The Work Cited section does not need to be a separate page due to the assignment's brevity. Provide the chapter(s) and page number(s) or chapter(s) and paragraph number(s) you reference for your in-text citation(s). Examples: (Oberlin ch. 3, 42) or (Sanchez et al. ch. 8, par. 6). Use our sample paper available for download to guide your work. Students must use a unique reading selection for each monthly challenge they enter.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L. ("How do I cite an audiobook?")
Begins March 1, 2025 "Alphabet Soup" Challenge (March) Read a book, in either print or digital format, (including audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, or novellas) written by an LGBTQIA+ author OR centering LGBTQIA+ voice(s) or stories.
Tip #1: Check Lambda Literary Award Winners, Stonewall Book Awards List, our LGBT History Month page, or the American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table’s notable books (see their Award Information: Winner List) for inspiring possibilities, then check our library catalog for the book. You can also text an HCC librarian for help at 1+(713) 568-9582. In a hurry? Check our Speed Reads page for any potential titles.
Respond in 100 to 200 words explaining why you chose this particular title and format, whether your impression of the book changed much (or not) by the end, and why or why not. Use MLA Style, 9th edition formatting, in-text citation, and provide the complete citation as a Work Cited at the end. Use the sample paper available to download at the bottom of this box to guide you.
Technical Guidelines: [A] Perform direct, block quoting of your selected passage. [B] Use MLA Style, 9th edition formatting for your page, in-text citation, and bibliographic citation at the end. The Work Cited section does not need to be a separate page due to the assignment's brevity. Use our sample paper available for download to guide your work. Students must use a unique reading selection for each monthly challenge they enter.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L.
"Roses are Red" Challenge (April)
Read five (5) poems or more, in print or digital format, available through HCC Libraries or Open Access OA icon.
Tip #1: Check our Readers' Advisory: Poetry page for some poetry possibilities. You can also email ask@hccs.libanswers.com for help finding more options. Visit Texas A&M University's Writing Center page on Analyzing Poetry. The page's introductory paragraph and Thesis sections will be very helpful in drafting a thesis.
Respond with the names of at least five (5) poems you read and draft a thesis of your interpretation of one or more of them.
Technical Guidelines: Use MLA Style, 9th edition formatting for your page, in-text citation, and bibliographic citation at the end. Use the sample paper available to download at the bottom of this box to guide you. Students must use a unique reading selection/(s) for each monthly challenge they enter.Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L. (The subsection "A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection" may be helpful to many of you relying on those source types.)
"Mayday" Challenge" (May)
Begins May 1, 2025 "Mayday" Challenge (May) Read a book, in either print or digital format, (including audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, or novellas) written or illustrated by an Asian, Asian-American, or Pacific Islander OR centering Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander voice(s) or stories.
Tip #1: You can live chat with an HCC librarian for recommendations and/or check out our AANHPI Heritage Month page or Speed Reads page for possibilities. Respond in 200 words or less, tell us why you chose this title, whether you’d recommend it to your peers, how many stars you would rate it (out of 5) and what you liked most or least about it. Use the sample paper available to download at the bottom of this box to guide you.
Tip #2: Visit the HCC Library’s MLA Style, 9th edition LibGuide for helpful citation guidance or Purdue University's O.W.L.
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