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The Providence College Freshman Common Reading Program now has a Facebook page. "Like" the page to learn more about the program and to receive updates and event listings.

​Current Common Reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks


111Lacks.jpgThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown, 2010) was read by all incoming members of the Class of 2016 and new transfers as this year’s Freshman Common Reading Program (FCRP) selection.

Click here to learn more about the book and related programming.

​​Lacks' Son, Granddaughter Come to PC


1lacksfamily.pngUntil Rebecca Skloot wrote The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, few knew anything about the woman whose cancer cells, harvested without her knowledge before her death in 1951, became the immortal “HeLa” cell line essential to medical research for seven decades.

Even her son, David “Sonny” Lacks, Jr., and her granddaughter, Jeri Lacks Whye, learned about Henrietta Lacks by reading Skloot’s book — about her contributions to medicine and her early years and interests as well. Lacks and Whye visited Providence College on April 4 for a conversation with students, staff, and faculty about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Read the full story.

​Freshman Common Reading Program

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Class of 2017 Common Reading


the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time1.jpgThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a best-selling novel written from the perspective of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome by award-winning author Mark Haddon, will be read by all incoming members of the Class of 2017 and new transfers as the Freshman Common Reading Program (FCRP) selection for the 2013-14 academic year.

About the Book:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is narrated by Christopher John Francis Boone. When he is 15 years old, Christopher finds his neighbor’s dog impaled on a garden fork. Initially blamed for the crime, Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. The investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face-to-face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the reader is drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.

Published in the United States by Doubleday in 2003, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been hailed by critics and has received a number of literary prizes. They include the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book Award, and the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults Award.

About the author:
In addition to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon is the author of the New York Times bestseller, A Spot of Bother.

He also has written The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea and has written and illustrated numerous award-winning children’s books and television screenplays.

Point of View: Faculty Member, Student Offer Perspective


1Early,-Christine-'11.jpgThe book allows students and faculty to see into the world of someone whose brain works in a very unique way. It does a good job of portraying how a person with certain cognitive and emotional challenges (as well as gifts) views the world around him. It is important for all of us to understand how others might experience the world from a very different perspective than we are used to, and try to be more aware of what someone with the unique challenges and gifts might be going through.

Dr. Christine E. Earley
Associate Dean, School of Business
Professor of Accountancy

1kristengold.jpgThis book helps its readers dive into the mind of a boy with mental challenges. It forces us to see the world from a perspective that we rarely think to look through. In a time when people with disabilities are often written off and misunderstood, this book forces the world to understand.

I hope that this book brings PC students to greater solidarity with those who have disabilities of any kind and helps them to understand other people on a deeper level.

Kristen Gold ’16
Catholic and Dominican

Catholic &
Dominican

What does it mean to be a Catholic and Dominican college? We invite you to explore this question and the distinctive mission of Providence College.
About Providence College's Catholic and Dominican Identity