2006 Selection:

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka.

This piece depicts the struggle of a Japanese-American family sent to an internment camp during World War II.   

Otsuka has received praise for her poignant and personal prose describing an  “uncertain time” in American history. 

As you read, you are forced to consider your own cultural and ethnic identity, as well as your responsibility to the community and to your understanding of citizenship.

2005 Selection:

West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary.

Tamim Ansary grew up in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.  Ansary's father taught science and literature at Kabul University, and his American mother taught English at the first girls' school in Afghanistan.

In 1964, Ansary received a scholarship to a Colorado high school, and moved to America.  Six years later he graduated with honors from Reed College and soon thereafter plunged into the sixties counterculture; he wrote for an "alternate" weekly, lived in communes, worked in restaurants, wrote obscure, experimental fiction and quit his job in order to hit the road and have adventures.

In 1980, Ansary traveled through North Africa and Turkey to explore Islam and found Islamism instead.  After 9/11, he hit the road again, this time to visit Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan and to make a journey to Kabul.

2004 Selection:

Caucasia by Danzy Senna.

A coming-of-age tale about one girl's struggle to find her family, her roots, and her identity.  Senna's first novel tells the story of Birdie Lee, a biracial girl, who goes underground with her mother to escape simmering racial tensions in 1970s Boston.

2003 Selection:

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen.

This book provides a thought-provoking look at how history is presented, taught, and learned in America. The book is a summary of Loewen’s survey of twelve commonly used American history texts and exploration of myths and misinformation in the teaching and understanding of America history. The author, Dr. Loewen, attended Carleton College, holds the Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, and taught race relations for twenty years at the University of Vermont. He now lives in Washington, D.C., continuing his research on how Americans remember their past.

2002 Selection:

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Read by students in First-Year programs (Freshman Seminar and Learning Communities) prior to the start of their freshman year. This represented the pilot year of the Summer Reading program at Temple and met with tremendous success! Some of the highlights included a visit from the author, Eric Schlosser and a community service project with the Philadelphia Food Bank.

FIRST YEAR PROGRAMS

Current Reading Selection

Previous Reading Selections

Resources

News and Events