American Dervish has been selected for the 2013 Summer Reading Program.
Hayat Shah is a young Pakistani-American who wrestles with his religious identity, tumultuous feelings for his mother's friend, Mina, that he can't explain, and his own sense of himself in Ayad Akhtar's American Dervish.
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer has been selected for the 2012 Summer Reading Program.
Novella Carpenter chronicles her efforts to live off the land on the fringes of an urban ghetto. Her efforts to have a sustainable source of food for herself–with some for friends and neighbors as well-- sends her down a path inspired by Henry Thoreau, Euell Gibbons and her mother. The experiment to eat exclusively from her urban squat farm tries her will and ingenuity while bolstering her spirit with a sense of connection with all around her.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen has been selected for the 2011 Summer Reading Program at Appalachian State University.
Christopher McDougall's bestseller follows the achievements of super athletics, such as Mexico's Tarahumara Indians, considered among the world's greatest distance runners, to answer his personal question: Why does my foot hurt?
The book will be provided to all incoming freshmen at Appalachian and Jordan will speak to members of the campus community and others during Convocation Sept. 16 in the Holmes Center on campus.
"Appalachian's Summer Reading Program provides an important common experience for entering freshmen, helps develop a sense of community with their new environment and introduces them to the academic rigor of college," said Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock in announcing the selection.
"Three Cups of Tea," coauthored by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, follows Mortenson's evolution from mountain climber to humanitarian.
"This book illustrates the power of one individual to change the lives of many," said Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock in announcing the selection. "This book will surely inspire all who read it."
The book will be read by all incoming freshmen at Appalachian as part of the university's First Year Seminar Program. Mortenson will speak to members of the campus community and others during Convocation Sept. 10 in the Holmes Center.
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls has been selected for the 2008 Summer Reading Program at Appalachian State University, announced Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock.
In her memoir, Walls weaves an almost unbelievable account of her mother and father's unorthodox approach to parenting, the family's unconditional love for one another, and Walls's and her siblings' ability to prosper in spite of the obstacles, including homelessness and alcoholism, they faced growing up.
"A Home on the Field" is published by HarperCollins. Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book was, "A worthy social commentary and biographical portrait. . . . the author's description of (the team's) victories is nicely balanced with a broad overview of Latinos' relatively recent migration to the American South, with a conclusion infused with cautious optimism."
The most brilliant young economist in America-the one so deemed, at least, by a jury of his elders-brakes to a stop at a traffic light on Chicago's south side. It is a sunny day in mid-June. He drives an aging green Chevy Cavalier with a dusty dashboard and a window that doesn't quite shut, producing a dull roar at highway speeds.
But the car is quiet for now, as are the noontime streets: gas stations, boundless concrete, brick buildings with plywood windows.
Salzman captures post-cultural revolution China through his adventures as a young American English teacher in China and his shifu-tudi (master-student) relationship with China's foremost martial arts teacher.
At Ballou Senior High, a crime-infested school in Washington, D.C., honor students have learned to keep their heads down. Like most inner-city kids, they know that any special attention in a place this dangerous can make you a target of violence. But Cedric Jennings will not swallow his pride, and with unwavering support from his mother, he studies and strives as if his life depends on it--and it does.
