Each year Smith College selects a book to be read by all entering students over the summer before they arrive. The reading selection for students entering in Fall 2012 is Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis by Alice Yaeger Kaplan.

Since World War II, countless American students have been transformed by their sojourn in the City of Light. Dreaming in French tells three stories of that experience, and how it changed the lives of three extraordinary American women.

Incoming students are expected to purchase and read the summer reading selection prior to arriving at Smith for Orientation. During Orientation you will discuss the book in small groups led by a faculty or staff member.

Past summer reading selections have included The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot; Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi; Atonement, by Ian McEwan; and My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki. Learn more...