A number of colleges are assigning homework before their freshmen even set foot on campus--mandatory summer reading. The schools typically choose one book that will spark debate, remind freshmen that there is life outside the undergraduate ivory tower--and not be too heavy to make it from the bookshelf to the beach. Here's a look at some books on incoming freshmen's reading lists for this summer. --By Molly Worthen
DUKE UNIVERSITY An expose of the extremes of wealth and poverty in America's public schools
ITHACA COLLEGE The Color of Water, a memoir of growing up in a family of 12 children...