Vermont Humanities

Resources to Extend your Study of Gather

Teenaged boy in blue jacket with black hair with a large brown dog by a fire in the woods
Vermont Reads

Related Books

Dive deeper into the themes from Gather by Kenneth Cadow by picking up another one of these titles.

Substance Use Disorder & Recovery

  • Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll, Tornbouctou Press, 1978
  • Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, Houghton Mifflin, 2008
  • Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer, Graydon House, 2018
  • Canary in the Coal Mine by William Cooke
  • Dopesick by Beth Macy, Little, Brown and Company, 2018
  • Strung Out by Erin Khar, Park Row, 2020
  • Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, Little, Brown and Company, 2007
  • Zoo Station: The True Story of Christiane F. by Christiane F., Zest Books, 2013

Rural America: Changes and Challenges

And don’t miss the Museum on Main Street’s Crossroads exhibit, coming to Vermont in 2024 and 2025.

  • A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck, Alfred A Knopf Inc, 1972
  • American Harvest by Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Graywolf Press, 2020
  • Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass by Gary Paulsen, Harcourt, 1992
  • Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America by Gigi Georges, Harper Perennial, 2022
  • Here and Nowhere Else: Late Seasons of a Farm and its Family by Jane Brox, North Point Press, 2004
  • Judevine by David Budbill, Chelsea Green Publishing, 1999
  • The Last of the Hill Farms: Echoes of Vermont’s Past by Richard Brown, David R Godine, Publisher, 2018
  • North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason, Random House, 2023
  • Northern Borders: A Novel by Howard Frank Mosher, Delta, 1995
  • The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country by Elizabeth Currid-Hackett, Basic Books, 2023
  • Postcards by E. Annie Proulx, Harper Collins, 1992
  • Queering the Countryside: New Frontiers in Rural Queer Studies by Colin R. Johnson (Editor), Brian J Gilley (Editor), and Mary L Gray (Editor), NYU Press, 2016
  • The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks, Allen Lane, 2015
  • Temple Stream by Bill Roorbach, Down East Books, 2005
  • This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian, Princeton Architectural Press, 2023

Food – Access and Resources

  • Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir by Iliana Regan, Agate Publishing 2020
  • Free Lunch by Rex Ogle, Norton Young Readers, 2021
  • The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough by Katie Smith Milway, Kids Can Press, 2010
  • Hungry: a Graphic Novel, Fighting Childhood Food Insecurity by Julie Olson
  • Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, Harper Teen, 1997

Class Divisions & Resiliency

  • The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden, Sky Pony, 2018
  • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, 2022
  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, Crown, 2016
  • The Forgotten Girls by Monica Potts, Random House, 2023
  • The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Scribner, 2005
  • The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Viking Press, 1939
  • The Missing Class by Katherine S. Newman, Beacon Press II, 2008
  • How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh, Little, Brown Spark, 2021
  • Mot: A Memoir by Sarah Einstein, University of Georgia Press, 2015
  • Rural Poverty in the United States by Ann Tickamyer (Editor), Jennifer Sherman (Editor) and Jennifer Warlick (Editor), Columbia University Press, 2020
  • Such Kindness by Andrew Dubus III, W. W. Norton & Company, 2023
  • Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation by John Freeman
  • Townie by Andre Dubus III, W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

People and Pets

  • The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, Harper Paperbacks, 2018
  • Dog Stories edited by Diana Secker Tesdell, Everyman Paperback Classics, 2010
  • The Friend by Sigrid Nunez, Riverhead Books, 2018
  • How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns, New Harvest, 2013
  • My Dog Always Eats First: Homeless People and Their Animals by Leslie Irvine, Lynne Rienner Publisher, Inc (2013)
  • Old Yeller by Fred Gipson and illustrated by Carl Burger, HarperTorch, 1956
  • The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel, Doubleday, 2017

Related Early Reader Books

These books that highlight resiliency are perfect for story hour or pre-school programs and can provide an opportunity for our youngest community members to engage in your Vermont Reads project.

  • A Perfectly Messed Up Story, by Patrick McDonnell, Little Brown, 2014
  • After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat, Roaring Brook, 2017
  • Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, Workman Publishing, 2010
  • Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall, Little Brown, 2022
  • Here Comes Darrell by Leah Schubert, HMH, 2005
  • Maybe by Kobi Yamada, Compendium, 2019
  • The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, Kids Can Press, 2014
  • Muskrat Will Be Swimming by Cheryl Savageau, UNKNO, 1996
  • Watercress by Andrea Wang, Neal Porter Books, 2021

Articles & Papers

Addiction and Recovery

Food Insecurity

Housing & Class Divide

Dogs

Podcasts

Explore class, hunger, and housing through the following podcasts:

Films & Videos

The following films or videos are available on Kanopy or other streaming services and explore topics related to Gather.

  • Ben is Back, Directed by Peter Hedges (2018)
  • Bicycle Thieves, Directed by Vittorio De Sica (1948)
  • Hunger in America, Directed by Zac Adams (2014)
  • Megan Leavey, Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (2017)
  • Poor Kids, Frontline PBS 11/20/2012
  • Red Dog, Directed by Kriv Stenders (2011)
  • The Florida Project, Directed by Sean Baker (2017)
  • The Line: Poverty in America, Directed by Linda Midgett (2014)
  • Understanding the Opioid Epidemic, PBS, 01/17/2018
  • USA: Being Poor in the World’s Richest Country, Directed by Sebastien Gilles (2019)
  • Warning This Drug May Kill You, Directed by Perri Peltz (2017)
  • Winter’s Bone, Directed by Debra Granik (2010)

Additional films to explore:

  • Old Yeller, Directed by Robert Stevenson (1957) available on Disney+
  • Peter and the Farm, Directed by Tony Stone (2016) available on Amazon
  • The Pursuit of Happyness, Directed by Gabriele Muccino (2006)
  • The Year of the Dog, Directed by Rob Grabow, Michael Peterson, abd Andrew McGinn (2023) available on Amazon

Online Resources

From educational videos to exhibit websites to even a photo-documentary series dedicated to dogs, these online resources can provide further learning opportunities after reading Gather.

Community Resources

These Vermont organizations and resources provide essential services for Vermonters (and their pets) including food access, housing assistance, connection to recovery services, and more.

  • Food Insecurity
    • Vermont Foodbank: The Vermont Foodbank is the state’s largest hunger-relief organization, providing nutritious food through a network of more than 300 community partners – food shelves, meal sites, senior centers, after-school programs, schools, and hospitals. The Vermont Foodbank, a member of Feeding America, provides about 12 million pounds of food annually to people throughout Vermont. Use there Foodbank Locator to connect with local food shelf.
    • PAWSitivePantry: a non-profit organization that provides a safety net to help pets whose families have fallen on hard times.
    • Food Resource Map for Vermont. Developed by VDART, Inc – Vermont Disaster Animal Response Team, identifying organizations where pet food and other pet care resources can be accessed.
    • Vermont 211 is a free, confidential information referral service for all of Vermont. Dial 2-1-1 to be connected with a wide range of community, health, and social services local to you. Or you can find resources online. If you have trouble getting through please call 866-652-4636 or 802-652-4636.
  • Housing Insecurity
  • Addiction and Recovery:

Related Observance Days & Months

  • International Overdose Awareness Day – August 31
  • Substance Use Prevention Month – October
  • World Animal Day– October 4
  • National Farmers Day – October 12
  • Wildlife Conservation Day – December 4
  • International Animal Rights Day – December 10
  • National Poverty Month – January
  • Recovery Day – Feb 15
  • World Vet Day – last Saturday in April
  • World Stray Animals Day – April 4
  • National Pet Week May 4-10
Vermont Humanities*** August 2, 2024

A woman with gray hair wearing a blue shirt reads from a music stand in front of a seated crowd in a state park

Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.

Middle school students in costume on stage during Shakespeare play

Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.

Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with students in front of a schoolbus

We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”

African man in dark pants and shirt leading a group of children in a dance in a school gymnasium

We supported the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Global Connections Youth Outreach program, which highlights artists from around the world.

Woman raising her hand during a public event

Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.