UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the eighth consecutive year, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book is participating in Route 1 Reads, a road-trip-inspired reading list that explores various genres through the network of State Center for the Book affiliates located along Route 1. In 2022, the theme of the reading list is literary fiction.

The selected book to represent Pennsylvania is "Wonder Boys" by University of Pittsburgh alum Michael Chabon (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2008). "Wonder Boys" follows the hijinks of a flawed English professor and his protégé who find themselves jumbling through locales in their Pittsburgh college town, each haunted by aspirations to publish a book — while the writing in this novel delivers a meta statement on the turbulent pursuit of its craft.

The diverse reading list created by Route 1 Reads highlights each State Center for the Book affiliate, while celebrating the East Coast as a whole. The full list of literary fiction titles for the 2022 Route 1 Reads initiative is available at Route1Reads.org.

Route 1 Reads is a partnership between the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and its affiliates in: Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; Virginia; and Washington, D.C. The initiative was launched at the 2015 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit Route1Reads.org.

About the Center for the Book and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established by Congress in 1977 to “stimulate public interest in books and reading” and is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated state centers, collaborations with nonprofit reading-promotion partners and through its Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress.

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. In partnership with and housed within Penn State University Libraries since 2000, it encourages Pennsylvania’s citizens and residents to study, honor, celebrate and promote books, reading, libraries and literacy.

In addition to Route 1 Reads, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book administers: the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, the Public Poetry Project, A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy, Poems from Life, Words of Art, the interactive Literary and Cultural Heritage Maps of Pennsylvania, and Curricula and Teaching Materials. The Center’s public initiatives provide access to free content that includes poetry posters, live and recorded presentations, lesson plans, reviews and more.

For more information about Route 1 Reads in Pennsylvania, contact Nicole Miyashiro, writer-in-residence, at nmm16@psu.edu.