U.S. News & World Report, which publishes the most widely quoted annual set of rankings for American colleges and universities, recently shared their list of “10 Books to Read Before College.” Describing these books as “assigned texts [that] are regularly used in freshman-level classes and offer students a chance to come together to discuss a book they’ve all read,” the list includes nine titles published by Penguin Random House and Penguin Random House distribution partners, including:
Selected for common reading at: Northern Illinois University; the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor; Indiana University Kelley School of Business; Oklahoma City University; Syracuse University; Washington, State University; and many more
Selected for common reading at: Harvard University; New York University; University of California, Berkeley; University of South Carolina; and many more
Selected for common reading at: University of California – Berkeley; New York University; Vassar College; Ramapo College; Georgetown University; University of Utah; Skidmore College; Chaffey College; Penn State Altoona; Pomona College; Connecticut College; Rhode Island College; Eastern Mennonite University; Muhlenberg College; St. Francis University; Smith College, and many more
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Selected for common reading at: Skidmore College; Cornell University, Temple University College of Public Health, University of Denver, University of Michigan-Dearborn, and many more
Selected for common reading at: Seton Hall University; Northwestern University, Southern Methodist University, SUNY Binghamton, University of Michigan, University of Mississippi, and many more
Selected for common reading at: Duke University
Selected for common reading at: California State University – Sacramento; Stanford University; SUNY Oswego; University of California – Berkley; University of California – Santa Cruz; University of Idaho; University of Montana; Vassar College; College of William & Mary; Cuyahoga Community College; Duke University; Lansing Community College; Manchester Community College; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and many more
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Selected for common reading at: California State University – San Marcos; CUNY Queensborough Community College; San Diego State University, and many more
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Selected for common reading at: College of St. Scholastica; Davidson College; Northeastern University; Simmons University; Tulane University; and University of Wisconsin, Madison
To learn more about common reading programs, visit our Common Reads website
To view the author videos from the 2021 First-Year Experience® Conference, click here
