FAU - The Freshman Reading Experience

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The Freshman Reading Experience

The Freshman Reading Program will bring the incoming freshman class together with the reading of a common book, connecting them through an interactive experience with their peers, fellow students, FAU faculty and staff.

Freshmen have been invited to join a online community during the summer to discuss the book and learn about FAU's resources. In the online community, students will be able to explore and reflect on the meaning and significance of the book, as well as gain valuable information about the FAU community, develop critical reading skills, and “chat” with other incoming and current FAU students.

Students who participate in the Freshman Reading and the Online Community are eligible to apply for scholarship opportunities.

Freshman Reading Book for 2010

FINDING MAÑANA
A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus
by Mirta Ojito

“A thorough and exciting account of the events leading to the daring, massive exodus of more than 125,000 people from Cuba's Mariel harbor in 1980. A skillful melding of individual personalities with the grand currents of history.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"Until I read this book, the Mariel refugees were headlines in a newspaper, stereotypes fed by political rhetoric. In Finding Mañana, Mirta Ojito has given me a peek behind the headlines, and a sense of how history affects the individual."
—Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I was Puerto Rican

“Finding Mañana is a strongly written, straight-shooting and affecting memoir about one family’s experiences leading up to the Mariel boatlift out of Cuba. Rich in detail and concise in its capturing of that chapter of Cuban history, the book is also a touching tale of a young woman’s coming of age during a time of great political turmoil and personal travails.”
— Oscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The FAU Library is a good resource guide to FINDING MAÑANA where you will find interesting tidbits about the author and an informative bibliography. LibGuide is a research assistance, subject guide, and useful resource that is compiled by librarians. Please click the link to visit this site: http://libguides.fau.edu/finding_manana .

Click here to read about previous years selections of the Freshman Reading book

For additional information, please contact Diane Aragon in the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies at daragon@fau.edu or Dr. Debbie Raines, Chair of the Freshman Reading Program at draines@fau.edu.