Kalamazoo’s Summer Common Reading joins new students, faculty, and staff in a conversation about a novel they have read during the summer. The author of the chosen novel visits campus during orientation to augment discussion of the work.

It is an important first step in building a cohesive, dynamic, educational community. To share a book means we all begin "on the same page"--literally. We hope that, through reading this book attentively, discussing it with peers and faculty, connecting it to other academic disciplines at the college and making it relevant to students in surprising ways, the Summer Common Reading experience will be seen as a microcosm of, and a model for, a liberal arts education.