Rhode Island Center for the Book Announces Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez as the 2026 Reading Across Rhode Island Selection
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Center for the Book is pleased to announce Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez as the 2026 selection for Reading Across Rhode Island (RARI), the state’s One Book, One State community reading program. The 2026 program marks the 24th year of Reading Across Rhode Island, which encourages readers across the state to come together around a shared book and a year of engaging programs and conversations.
This year’s Honorary Chair is Charlotte Abotsi, poet and Special Projects Manager at Providence Arts, Culture + Tourism. Learn more about Charlotte Abotsi.
Reading Across Rhode Island is a program of the Rhode Island Center for the Book, made possible through a vibrant collaboration of librarians, teachers, book group leaders, and readers throughout the state.
“I’m honored to have Happy Land featured in the beautiful state of Rhode Island. I’m excited to share the story of this Appalachian mountain community that proved small places can accomplish truly extraordinary feats,” said Dolen Perkins-Valdez.
About Happy Land
A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American kingdom—and her family’s ties to it—in this enthralling novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award–winning author of Take My Hand.
Happy Land has been featured in The Washington Post, People, Harper’s Bazaar, NPR, TODAY, ELLE, PopSugar, Reader’s Digest, Real Simple, BookBrowse, and more.
Nikki hasn’t seen her grandmother in years. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, due to a mysterious estrangement between her mother and grandmother, she’s determined to learn the truth while she still can.
But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen.
It sounds like the makings of a fairy tale—royalty among a community of freed people. But the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, and the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she discovers in the woods, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family’s secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it will be up to her to protect it before it, like so much else, is stolen away.
Inspired by true events, Happy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape us and the dazzling courage it takes to dream.
About the Author
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Take My Hand (2022), which was awarded an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and a Fiction award from the Black Caucus American Library Association and was long-listed for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. A three-time nominee for a United States Artists Fellowship, Dolen is widely considered a preeminent chronicler of American historical life. Learn more at dolenperkinsvaldez.com.
Upcoming Reading Across Rhode Island Events
Register for the Reading Across Rhode Island Kickoff Event
January 24, 2026
2:00–4:00 pm
Rhode Island State House
Readers are invited to join Reading Across Rhode Island Chair Amy VanderWeele, Education Chair Maureen Nagle, and Honorary Chair Charlotte Abotsi for an engaging introduction to the book. Registration will open soon at ribook.org.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez Author Event
April 14, 2026
Registration will be available in March at ribook.org.
Contact
For classroom sets, library discussion groups, and senior center book sets, contact Kate Lentz at kate@ribook.org.
Rhode Island Center for the Book
Rhode Island Center for the Book lives and breathes the mission of providing books and learning opportunities for schools, libraries, and other amazing organizations throughout Rhode Island. The Center promotes an equitable and just world through reading and education, actively supporting our local communities by partnering with Rhode Island independent bookstores. Reading Across Rhode Island is the Center’s “One Book One State” community read program that promotes a single book to help stimulate meaningful discussions across our state. Founded in 2003, the RI Center for the Book is the state affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and resides at The Pell Center at Salve Regina University.