You're Not Just in High School Anymore: College Summer Reading

More colleges and universities across the country are requiring summer reading of their incoming freshmen class. The book is sometimes called The Common Read and includes a book discussion during orientation week and into the fall semester. Some colleges have required this for a decade or more. (I know my oldest daughter was required to read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond before she began her freshman year at Dartmouth College in 2000 but I don't see them listed in the article.)

Michael Arnush—director of first-year experience at Skidmore College, which started its summer reading requirement a decade ago—says the goal is to engage students early with a "proactive discussion of challenging reading."

Read the whole article, June 16, 2007 - "Incoming Freshmen Get Summer Reading Assignments" by Jackie Mantey in
US News and World Report

For the younger set, go to the PBS Parents Site to their Bookfinder to find just the right books for your child. Give Bookfinder the age of the child, the theme that interests her or him and whether it's book to be read aloud or read alone.