Each year Smith College selects a book to be read by all entering students. Students are expected to purchase and read the book before arriving at Smith. During Orientation, you will discuss the book in small groups led by a faculty or staff member. The selection for 2013 is made in the Spring and this page will be updated with information about the selection at that time.

Past Summer Reading Selections

2012: Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis by Alice Yaeger Kaplan

2011: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

2010: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

2009: The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones

2008: Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey

2007: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

2006: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

2005: Kettle Bottom by Diane Gilliam Fisher

2004: The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Lê Thi Diem Thúy

2003: Atonement by Ian McEwan

2002: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

2001: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

2000: My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki

1999: Respect by Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot