EASC offers professional development opportunities for K-12 educators throughout the academic year. Here you can find our upcoming NCTA East Asian Book Clubs.
EASC's online professional development opportunities are open to all K-12 educators and pre-service teachers.
Book Club Start Date: October 27, 2025
Book Club End Date: December 12, 2025
Registration Deadline: October 18, 2025
Led by Morgan McLaughlin this seven week book club will focus on stories of searching from East Asia. The book group will focus on My Pointless Struggle, Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World, and Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption.
My Pointless Struggle is the often hard-to-believe story of a young man who sets laughable goals only to see them happen as he’s constantly searching for the next thing to find fulfillment and purpose in his life.
Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World is the story of a young woman growing up in the Moso country in the Himalayas, a famously matrilineal society, as she discovers who she is and what she wants in life, even if it means leaving everything behind, much as her mother did years before.
Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption tells the story of a Korean girl adopted by a family in Sweden who engages in an unrelenting battle against bureaucracy and walls of secrets to discover information about where she came from.
This semester’s book club will offer teachers 14 professional development hours. For any questions reach out to easc@iu.edu.
Registration ClosedStart Date: February 22, 2026
End Date: April 11, 2026
Registration Deadline: February 14, 2026
Led by Morgan McLaughlin this seven week book club will focus on stories of searching from East Asia. The book group will focus on Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir, Lunar New Year Love Story, and The Language of Blood.
Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir follows Shoji Morimoto’s life after an old boss told him that he contributed nothing and that it made no difference whether he showed up to work or not. Following this interaction, Morimoto wondered if a person who ‘does nothing’ could still have a place in the world.
Lunar New Year Love Story is a heartwarming YA graphic novel rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love, from superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham.
The Language of Blood is an adoptee's search for identity which takes her on a journey from Minnesota to Korea and back as she seeks to resolve the dualities that have long defined her life: Korean-born, American-raised, never fully belonging to either.
Participants will receive a $40 incentive in the form of an Amazon gift card for completing the book club and post-book club survey. This semester’s book club will offer teachers 14 professional development hours. For any questions reach out to easc@iu.edu.
HAMILTON LUGAR SCHOOLBLOOMINGTON
355 North Eagleson Avenue