Common reading selected

By Jaclyn Youngblood     4/16/09 7:00pm

This year's Common Reading book will take students an ocean away and back again. The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, by Helene Cooper, has been chosen as Orientation Week 2009's selection. It exposes students to a coming-of-age story written by a woman who survived a war-torn upbringing in Liberia to eventually immigrate to the United States. The Common Reading selection committee, composed of faculty, staff and students, began searching for a book last fall, Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said. A month ago, the list of potential books was whittled down to four: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan, Transforming Leadership: A New Pursuit of Happiness by James MacGregor Burns, Opportunity Urbanism: An Emerging Paradigm for the 21st Century by Joel Kotkin and The House at Sugar Beach.

Forman made that list available to faculty and asked for feedback. After weighing the faculty's opinions, the committee made its recommendation to Forman April 1, and Forman approved the recommendation a week later.

In The House at Sugar Beach, Cooper tells of her emigration from Liberia to the United States after a coup in Liberia in the 1980s, discussing how she struggled to shape her identity in a foreign land.

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In an e-mail to the Rice community, Forman said this year's selection was chosen for the salience of its message and its meaningfulness to incoming freshmen, who will also have to deal with forging new identities in a new environment.

"We believe Ms. Cooper's story will be meaningful to new students ... because it illuminates the challenges of transitioning from something familiar to something foreign," Forman said.

Forman said the book also lends itself well to the opening of Duncan and McMurtry Colleges in the fall. He said the theme of self-identity runs through the story.

"What does it mean to introduce new colleges to this community?" he asked. "[It's] about adapting to new surroundings and not losing sight of yourself."

After the success of this year's selection, Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . One School at a Time, Forman said he hopes this year's experience will be even more exciting.

"We've heard wonderful reports from last year's Common Reading," he said. "People really seem to find it to be an exciting addition to the Rice experience."

Forman said this year will be the Common Reading's fourth year of existence. He said the program has become more involved over the years, and has extended its reach beyond O-Week into the semester.

Two main goals of the program are to give incoming students a common intellectual foundation upon which to build conversation and to welcome them into Rice's community of scholarship.

Forman applauded last year's O-Week advisors for spurring engaging discussions about Three Cups of Tea.

"I walked around campus the afternoon when these discussion were taking place and I ... overheard some wonderful conversations," he said.

He said last year's advisors requested a little more guidance in leading discussions. This year, he said he hopes that aspect of the program will improve.

A key factor in choosing this year's book was the author's availability to come and speak on campus after O-Week. Though it hasn't been set, Forman said Cooper plans to visit Rice Sept. 3 to speak to the Rice community.

Despite recent budget cuts, each incoming freshman will receive a hardback copy of The House at Sugar Beach. Forman said the money to purchase the books will come out of his Dean's budget.

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