Dakota College at Bottineau has chosen The Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson for its annual book read. The committee that included members of DCB faculty, staff, students, and community supporters of DCB chose the book because it fits the DCB theme of Nature, Technology, and Beyond and provides a look at a North Dakota history. The committee thanks everyone who suggested titles, and the committee will add those titles to the books to be considered for next year's book read. The author of this year's book read, Lois Phillips Hudson, was "born in 1927 in Jamestown" according to Read North Dakota (readnd.org). Hudson earned a Master's degree from Cornell University and has taught in the English and Modern Language department at The University of North Dakota and in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Washington.

The Bones of Plenty tells the story of a farm family who struggle to survive renting and farming two quarters of land in North Dakota during two years of the Great Depression, 1933-34. Although fictional, the book shows the natural and socio-economic conditions which impacted the farming industry and the technology, including drought and disease resistant wheat, farmers used to meet the yearly challenge. Hudson also gives the reader a very real look at family and community life at that time in North Dakota History. An unnamed book reviewer for the New York Times Book Review is quoted on the book's back cover saying "It is possible ... literary historians of the future will decide that The Bones of Plenty was the farm novel of the Great Drought of the 1920s and 1930s and the Great Depression."

DCB will host a number of lectures and events in support of this year's book read. DCB faculty from a variety of academic disciplines will be presenting lectures during the upcoming academic year. Invitations to speak have been made to scholars at other institutions, and a panel discussion is planned among people who lived during the Depression in North Dakota. The book can be purchased at the DCB bookstore. The specifics about the times and places for the lectures and events in support of this year's book read will be available soon.