Enroll in the BookSparks University Fall Reading Challenge for 2014 and flex your back-to-school muscle.
It’s as easy as 1-2-3! Seriously, the easiest – and coolest! – university you’ll ever enroll in. Do it now, before we hike up the tuition. KIDDING! It’s free … and fun … and did we mention, cool?
Pick your course schedule by reading through the offerings below and signing up online.
Read the required reading for your course and post your term paper (aka blog post).
Follow along on social for the chance to WIN a $25 Target gift card every week PLUS the grand prize – a $500 Visa gift card. That’s a lot of ramen, college kids!
Forget writing a stodgy admissions essay, BookSparks University welcomes everyone to participate in our Fall Reading Challenge 2014. Here’s how you can get enrolled.
Editors: We’re counting on you to help us promote these incredible courses (books!). With so many options in our class lineup, we’re sure you’ll find a few you like! Email our department head Crystal at crystal@booksparkspr.com (or call 480.650.1688) for galleys, author interviews and custom class lineups for your outlet. Her office hours are just about 24/7 so give her a shout any time.
Bloggers: Follow the steps above to get enrolled, select your class schedule and complete your blog tour assignments. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to enter our giveaways! More details about participating>>
Fans: BookSparks University welcomes all book-lovers to participate in the Fall Reading Challenge 2014. Simply purchase your favorite course books below, read them and tag us to win prizes all fall long. More details about participating>>
Read through these course descriptions and decide which courses you’d like to participate in. Click the link at the bottom to sign up.
Course: Guide to Women’s Studies
Required reading: Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of September 8
With honesty and heart-warming humor this course will transport you into four women’s lives. While you watch them navigate their chaotic and unconventional lifestyles, they realize the many modern roles woman play and that some love can really last a lifetime.
Course: Finding Mr. Right 101
Required reading: A Blind Spot for Boys by Justina Chen
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of September 15
Explore the conflicts that occur after finding Mr. Right at the wrong time. This course focuses on one girl’s ban on boys and how she deals with crushing news about her father. Travel with Shana to Machu Picchu and realization.
Course: Poetry 101
Required reading: Ghosting by Edith Pattou
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of September 22
Have a love for drama and poetry? Then this course is a must for you! Throughout this class you will learn about a group of teenagers’ perspectives on an end-of-the-summer prank gone wrong, written in verse. Alcohol, guns and a dare— within minutes, events collide and a group of teenager’s lives are altered forever.
Course: Advanced Dystopian Studies
Required reading: Rebels by Jill Williamson
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of September 29
*Suggested prerequisites for this class include (available upon request): Intro to Dystopian Studies (Captives by Jill Williamson) and Intermediate Dystopian Studies (Outcasts by Jill Williamson)
Explore dystopian political structures and learn about The Safe Land’s government and why they have long kept the true meaning of Liberation secret from their people. By the end of this course you will understand the ins and outs of The Safe Land’s government and what lies behind their guarded secret.
Course: Theatre Studies 201
Required reading: Destined for Doon by Laurie Langdon and Carey Corp
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of October 6
*Suggested prerequisite for this class (available upon request): Theatre 101 (Doon by Laurie Langdon and Carey Corp)
Anyone with an active imagination should ace this course! This exciting class explores the enchanted land of Doon and what it means to live there. With Broadway, true love and an ancient curse, a group of three friends must battle a world of nightmares in order to save their beloved kingdom.
Course: Intro to Ghost Stories
Required reading: The Barter by Siobahn Adcock
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of October 13
Ever had an encounter with the paranormal or just curious? Throughout this course you will learn about a ghost story haunted by affection and a spooky secret driven by the mysteries of motherhood and marriage. A must for the skeptic!
Course: 90s Music
Required reading: Rock Angel by Jeanne Bogino
Department: New Adult
Course Date: Week of October 20
Calling all 90s rocker chicks (or those who wish they were)! By the end of this course you will have witnessed a young and beautiful guitar goddess rise to stardom and face the challenges inherent with being at the height of 90s rock. With love, drugs, bad boys and rock-n-roll this class will be nothing short of entertaining.
Course: Hot for Teacher
Required reading: Hit by Lorie Ann Grover
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of November 3
This course might be a little unconventional but why not learn how to navigate a flirtation with a teacher. In this course you will explore a student-teacher relationship that has become too flirty and too great a risk. This forbidden relationship is exhilarating and intense until a tragic accident changes everything.
Course: Intro to Wood Shop
Required reading: Kitchen Love Story by Camille Finan
Department: Non-fiction
Course Date: Week of November 10
Instructor Camille Finan has more than 15 years of professional carpentry experience and is sharing her unique perspectives as a female cabinetmaker in a man’s industry. Learn about her signature approach to kitchen design, Design From the Inside Out. Your final project for this course is designing the kitchen of your dreams.
Course: Family Studies
Required reading: Stillwater Rising by Steena Holmes
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of November 17
Throughout this course you will uncover the heart-wrenching story of a town trying to put itself back together after an elementary shooting that traumatized a close-knit community.
Course: Food Journalism
Required reading: A Second Bite at the Apple by Dana Bate
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of November 24
Explore Food Journalism with Sydney Strauss, who is obsessed with food. Not with eating it–though she does that too–but with writing about the wonders of the gastronomic world, from obscure fruit hybrids to organic farming techniques. Since food journalism jobs are slim to none, Sydney pays her bills working for one of TV’s biggest egomaniacs.But soon Sydney is writing the market’s weekly newsletter, and her quirky stories gain attention from a prominent food columnist.
Course: Studying Abroad! Semester in Thailand
Required reading: The Unimaginable by Dina Silver
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of December 1
Pack your bags, grab your college sweetheart and get ready for an uber-romantic cruise to Thailand. You’ll learn the fine arts of wining, dining and pirate-invasion-evasion. Wait, what? Yes, this cruise is definitely not everything it seems.
Course: Personality Psychology
Required reading: Both of Me by Jonathon Friesen
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of December 8
Investigate the unexplained condition of dissociative identity disorder in this course through Elias and Cara’s story. Cara meets Elias on a plane and soon discovers that there is not just one Elias but two and Cara quickly finds herself entangled in both of Elias’s lives.
Course: How to Save a Life 101
Required reading: Save Me by Kristyn Lewis
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of December 15
Daphne Mitchell has it all. The dream job, Owen – her childhood sweetheart, and restored beautiful farmhouse, until the day Owen confesses he’s fallen head over heels for someone else. Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne’s life hangs in limbo until the day Owen’s new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. Daphne has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and which path is the right one for her.
Enroll in BookSparks University NOW by selecting your courses>> SIGN UP HERE
Anxious for your first day at BookSparks University? Find out more details>> HERE