A Buzzy New All Community Read

Brooks’ 11th annual All Community Read is Julie Carrick Dalton’s The Last Beekeeper, and Dalton has no doubt that the novel will engage all who flew through the book this summer.

“As a community built on respect for each other, for your school and the world as a whole, I think the Brooks community will find a lot to talk about in the pages of The Last Beekeeper,” said the author (above). “I can’t wait to discuss it with you!”

Dalton will visit campus on November 3 for a day of programming, including talks in classes and a community dinner, before speaking at a special evening presentation for all students on campus, per All-Community-Read tradition.

Learn more about The Last Beekeeper and view discussion questions in this resource provided by Director of Sustainability Shanel Antunes. 

Each year, a different academic department invites the greater Brooks community to read the same book, which is then worked into the curriculum throughout the school year. Brooks’ sustainability program announced that they’d picked The Last Beekeeper as the 2025-2026 All Community Read during in a Chapel this May.

“The Last Beekeeper is a near-future suspense novel about the tenuous relationship between a beekeeper and his daughter as the world's pollinator population collapses,” Director of Sustainability Shanel Antunes shared on a slide she displayed with her announcement this spring. “It's a story about long-buried secrets, found family, speaking truth to power, redemption and unquenchable hope in the face of global crisis.”

What was last year’s All-Community Read?

“It's a big story but it's told through the small lens of one young woman trying to find her way in this changing world,” added Dalton, recently named the inaugural Writer in Residence at her alma mater, the University of Delaware. “She longs to find her people, to be accepted, to be loved, to make a difference in the world. Don't we all want that?”

What she wants is for all the Brooksians who read her book to “walk away with the understanding that small actions matter.”

“It doesn't matter if you are a scientist, a lawyer, a pilot, a bartender or a novelist,” said the former journalist and beekeeper, who owns a small organic farm in New Hampshire. “Everyone who lives on planet Earth has a stake in the battle to tame climate change. You have a unique perspective. And you have a voice.”

Above all, the author wants The Last Beekeeper to inspire hope. “Yes, we are living in uncertain, scary times,” said Dalton. “But if we give in to fear or become paralyzed by climate grief, we will miss our opportunity to change our future. Each of us has a role. Find the cause that matters most to you, cling to optimism and take action to create the future you want to see.”