2017 Summer Read

This summer, students entering Whitman College read Jennine Capó Crucet’s novel Make Your Home Among Strangers as their common Summer Read. The novel’s narrator, Lizet Ramirez, is Cuban-American, from Miami. A first-generation college student, she heads north to begin her studies at a prestigious East Coast liberal arts college in the fall of 1999. The challenges she faces in this new environment intertwine with the events that unfold when a five-year-old Cuban boy is rescued from the Florida coast, sparking a contentious custody battle with ramifications for Lizet and her family, as well as the country.

The Penrose Library display for Make Your Home Among Strangers combines artifacts related to Lizet’s college experiences and Miami origins with selected background information about Cuban migration to the US and about Elián González, the real-life counterpart of the novel’s Ariel Hernandez. On the short book stacks by the library entrance, you can find a selection of non-fiction works about Cuba and Cuban-American relations, as well as fiction by Cuban-American writers, to browse and check out. Check in our catalog for many more print and digital resources.

Jennine Capó Crucet will be on campus on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 at 7 pm in Cordiner Hall for a discussion and book signing. This event is free and open to the public.